The Jesuit New World Order

Saturday, 30 June 2012

JESUITS HELPED TO START
TWO WORLD WARS (1 &
2)

The heroes of communism, Marx and Engels, who wrote the
communistmanifesto, in the 1880s, were actually coached and directed by
Jesuitpriests. The communist party was formed for the task of destroying
theprotector of the hated orthodox church, the Czar of Russia. It was
forrevenge. The communist party was financed in secret by agents of
Rome(the illuminati) in order to create another power that was a
servantof the vatican.Before World War 1, a large group of wealthy Jews
was trying to gaincontrol over Jerusalem. This made the Vatican very angry.
The vaticanhad been wanting to move to Jerusalem for a long time,
sinceChristianity had started there. These Jews that were fighting
againstthe vatican's plans were to be made to pay for their stubborness.
TheVatican constucted a plan that destroy the European Jews and turn
theworld against them. The Vatican directed some Jews that were loyal
tothe catholic church to write an article called the protocols of
Zion.This document would pave the way for the coming Jewish holocaust,
evenif it would also cause the deaths of many Roman catholics as well.In
the early 1900s, France made the Vatican angry by making apolitical deal
with the Czar of Russia. Previously, France had dumpedits catholic King and
had become a republic; this also made theVatican angry. In the meantime, the
orthodox church was spreadingacross Bulgaria, Rummania, Greece, part of
Turkey, and SerbianYugoslavia. The Vatican wanted to bring France to its
knees and alsostop the religious competition in the Balkans. The solution to
theseproblems was simple, the Jesuits would start World War 1. The pope
wasbacking Germany, so when the catholic Kaisar asked the Vatican if
itcould expand Germany's borders, Pope Pius X and the Jesuits gave
himthere blessings and permission. Germany started fighting France
andtreaties pulled more nations intoj the conflict; Germany was
fightingFrance, England, Russian and the US. Millions died, many were
Romancatholic, in 4 years of bloody war.Even while men were still dying
inWorld War 1, the Jesuits were already busy preparing World War 2 and
anew catholic inquisition, the holocaust. In July 1919, when theallies
were signing the treaty of Versailles, at the end of World War1, they were
so angry at the Vatican for starting the war that theyrefused to recognize
the Vatican as a political power anymore and keptthem away from the
conference table.In Russian the empress, the wife of Czar Nicholas, told
Rasputin, amonk, where the Czar's gold was hidden. Rasputin told this
informationto the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox church.The Jesuits
worked closely with Marx, Engels, Trotsky, Lenin andStalin, while they were
carefully preparing for the Russianrevolution. The Jesuits secretly moved
their gold into Russia, tofinance this, using their key men. They believed
that communism wouldrise up as a new strong daughter of the Vatican. The
Russianrevolution succeeded, the Czar was forced to abdicate and his
familywas put under house arrest. The Royal family was moved to the
Uralsfor securtiy reasons, while an army of Czechs was coming to try
torescue him where he was being held. A group of Ural Soviets held
aquick trial and the Royal family was found guilty; some of thesesoviets
were Jesuits pretending to be communists. The protector of theRussian
orthodox church, the Czar, was now facing the Jesuits of Rome,and he and his
family were killed. The communists then moved todestroy the Vatican's
religious competitors, the Russian orthodoxchurch; its religious leaders
were being hunted down. However, whenthe communists approached the old
patriarch, he greeted them and toldthem he was holding the Czars gold for
them. The communists put downtheir weapons, accepted the Czar's gold and his
friendship and thekilling of the Russian orhodox clergy was stopped. The
communists notonly got the Czar's gold but they betrayed the Vatican and
kept thepope's gold too, which was worth over 600 million dollars. The
Vaticanwent wild with anger; they had been double-crossed. The Vatican
wasgoing to make the communists pay for this no matter what it
wouldcost. The Jesuits decided to start another war so that they could
haveanother inquisition and the victims would now include the
orthodoxchurch and the communists of Russia along with the Jews
andprotestants. The financial arm of the Vatican (the illuminati,
OpusDei, and key masons) have so much wealth that they can sway
theeconomy of the world and cause planned depressions. After the
firstWorld War, Germany was in a terrible depression. Certain
pro-catholicJews were ordered to buy up the land from the poor broke
Germans. Themoney was supplied by the Vatican and the land was bought at a
cheapprice. This was going to be used to stir up hatred against the Jews
ata future date. The Jews would be accused of showing no mercy to
theGermans when they stole their lands during the depression.At the end
of World War 1, the Jesuits moved on three fronts.Moussolini came to power
in Italy and his black shirted thugs beat allopponents into submission. A
jesuit named Venturi was assigned to workwith Moussalini. The catholic vote,
controlled by the Vatican putMoussolini into power. To pay off the Vatican,
Mousalini signed aconcordat (a document of mutual support) with the Vatican,
and thismade catholicism the only religion allowed in Italy and
itstrerritories.The German government was very weak, and the economy was
ruined. Somepeople wanted to make Germany a republic; the Vatican moved to
stopthis. They prepared the way for Germany's new Roman Catholic
leader,Adolph Hitler. Hitler's brown shirts, the Nazis, backed by
theVatican, beat all of their opponents into submission, this
includedopposing Roman catholics. A jesuit priest, father Staempfle, wrote
abook for Hitler, titled Mein Kampf; the book was the master plan ofthe
Jesuits for Hitler's take over of Germany. [ It was the Jesuitsthat
perfected the famous Pan-German program laid out in this book,and Hitler
endorsed it. - This is taken from the book, THE SECRETHISTORY OF THE JESUITS
page 138, by Edmond Paris, a catholic Frenchhistorian.] Street battles
between catholics that were Nazis andcatholics that were communists took
place. The Jesuits built thethird Reich, with its symbol the swastika, a
massonic symbol. (Note:Hitler and his associates were all catholic and they
all had somejewish blood in their veins. - according to Alberto Rivera,
formerJesuit priest.) Pope Pius XI supported Hitler, and the catholic
voteput Hitler into power in 1933. Gemany signed a concordat with
theVatican in 1933. The catholic Nazi, Von Papen, one of
Hitler'sdiplomats, boasted to the world, "the third Reich is the first
power,which not only recognizes, but puts into practice, the high
principlesof the papacy." (Der Voelkischer Beobachter, Jan. 14, 1934.)
{Youmight say that these, so called, high principles of the
papacyresulted in millions of people being murdered in concentration
camps.}In Spain, tunnels were found between the convents and priest
rectoriesin which little baby skeletons were found; the priests and nuns
werehaving sex and allowing the babies that were born to the nuns to
die.The discovery of this led to the Spanish civil war. Some
Spanishcatholics revolted against the Vatican because of this. The Pope
hiredseveral divisions of Moslem mercenaries fighting under Franco, to
killall Roman catholics, Jews and protestants that opposed them. Because
afew of the catholic revolters were communists, the catholic
controlledpress leaked out the story that it was a communist rebellion and
notwhat it really was, a catholic rebellion. General Franco won
thebattle and became the catholic dictator of Spain, ending the
Spanishrepublic government that Spain had previously. So now the Jesuits
hadleaders of Italy, Germany, and Spain that would obey the
Jesuits.German catholics under orders from the Vatican began
joiningprotestant churches and pretending to be protestant. When
theanti-Jewish attrocities began, these undercover catholics,
inprotestant churches, publicly accused the Jews and turned them over
tothe Gestapo for shipment to the death camps. [The Jesuits are
mastersof deceit. They took 1000 Roman catholic Jews and hid them at
theVatican for the duration of the war. This was just in case Hitler
lostthe war. If Hitler lost the war, the Vatican could say they
alsohelped the Jews. But these were catholic Jews. It was the non
catholicJews that the Gestapo wanted to kill.] The vatican always
coversitself in case its plans backfire.While Hitler was building his
war machine, in the 1930s, the Jesuitswere busy establishing 5th columns in
the countries scheduled for theNazi invasions. A 5th column is a secret army
within a country that isready to surrender and help an invading country to
capture its ownnation. The organization called catholic action, in these
countries,was the 5th column. Jesuit priests, Picard, Arendt, and
Foucaltpreached a Hitlerite, fascist Gospel, calling it a spiritual
renewalin Belgium. In the United States, the Jesuit father Coughlin
(theapostle of the swastika) reached over 20 million listeners by
radio,saying that the German war is a battle for Christianity. He
alsoheaded secret commando cells that were trained by Nazi agents,
from1936 - 1942 in the United States.Hitler started his fast attacks in
Europe and World War 2 started.Germany, Italy and Japan fought the rest of
the world and millionsdied. One of Hitler's greatest sources of intelligence
informationcame through the Roman catholic confessionals all over the
world.Hitler's secret servic, the Gestapo, was built up after the
principlesof the Jesuit Order, by Heindrich Hemler. Many catholic priests
worethe uniform of Hitler's Gestapo. The Jesuit father Himmler,
HeindrichHimmler's uncle, was one of the superior officers of the Gestapo.
Itwas mainly through the Gestapo that six and a half million
Jewssuffered torture and death; the 20th century catholic inquisition
wasin full swing. Bible believing protestants that tried to help the
Jewsalso went into the concentration camps. In Yugoslavia, the
Greekorthodox church, the Serbians, were terribly tortured and murdered
bythe Ustachi killer squads, catholic groups that were led by
Jesuits.Many catholic priests were members of the Ustachi killer squads.
TheJesuit monseigneur Tiso, in Slovakia, chief of the Slovakian
state,provided the first contingent of Jews, from Slovakia, to be
murderedat Auschwitz. Monseigneur Tiso was hanged as a war criminal after
thewar was over. You can read about the Ustachi killer squads and
seeactual photographs of them in action at this website: Read
THEVATICAN'S HOLOCAUST, online, here: Pope Pius XII, after building the Nazi war
machine, saw Hitler losinghis battle against Russia, and he immediately
jumped to the alliesside as he saw that Hitler was going to lose the war.
Then the Vaticanbegan to use the organizations under its control to cover up
theVatican's involvement with starting World War 2 and its involvement
inthe holocaust. Germany surrendered May 8th 1945 and Europe was
inruins. The Vatican had these contigency plans in case Hitler lost
thewar:1. Make everyone believe that the Vatican had nothing to do with
thewar and, in time, try to convince people that the holocaust
neverhappened.2. Make sure that rebellious nuns, monks, and priests were
also putinto the concentration camps to try to convince the world that
thecatholic church was also persecuted.3. They ordered catholic families
and priests to protect Jews in theirhomes so this could be used in the
future as good public relationsmaterial for books and films. Those Jews that
were protected hadalready been converted to catholicism.4. Put on a new
face by setting up the Vatican II council. 5. Set up a communist pope from
behind the Iron Curtain to please thecommunists and try to convert them to
catholicism. This was Pope John23rd.

Read what the press of the
Catholic, Spanish dictator, Franco,published on the 3rd of May, 1945, the
day of Hitler's death. It said,"Adolf Hitler, son of the Catholic Church,
died while defendingChristianity." It is therefore understandable that words
cannot befound to lament over his death, when so many were found to exalt
hislife. It goes on to say, "Over his mortal remains stands
hisvictorious moral figure. With the palm of the martyr, God gives
Hitlerthe laurels of Victory." This funeral oration of Adolph Hitler
wasvoiced by the Holy See itself, under the cover of Franco's press.
Itis a communique of the Vatican via Madrid.Hitler himself stated, "I
learned much from the Order of the Jesuits.Until now, there has never been
anything more grandiose, on the earth,than the hierarchical organization of
the Catholic church. Itransferred much of this organization into my own
party."Walter Schellenberg, former chief of Nazi counter-espionage made
thisstatement: "The S.S. organization had been constituted by
Himmleraccording to the principles of the Jesuit Order. Their regulations
andthe Spiritual Exercises prescribed by Ignatius of Loyola were
themodel Himmler tried to copy exactly. Himmler's title as supreme
chiefof the S.S. was to be the equivalent of the Jesuits' 'General' and
thewhole structure was a close imitation of the Catholic
Church'shierarchical order."Hitler was also ready to discuss with the
Bishop his views on theJewish question: Adoph Hitler said, "As for the Jews,
I am justcarrying on with the same policy which the Catholic church has
adoptedfor fifteen hundred years, when it has regarded the Jews as
dangerousand pushed them into ghettos etc., because it knew what the Jews
werelike. I don't put race above religion, but I do see the danger in
therepresentatives of this race for Church and State, and perhaps I
amdoing Christianity a great service.""The Nazi Persecution of the
Churches" by J S Conway pages 25 ,26 ,and 162

In his book FIFTY YEARS
IN THE CHURCH OF ROME, former catholic priest Charles Chiniquy had this to say
about the Jesuits: "The Jesuits are a military organization, not a religious
order. Their chief is the general of an army, not the mere father abbot of a
monastery. And the aim of this organization is power. Power in the most despotic
excercise. Absolute power, universal power, power to control the World by the
volition (will) of a single man. Jesuitism is the most absolute of despotisms
(dictatorship); and at the same time, the greatest and the most enormous of
abuses." (The most monstrous hurt, injury and damage) "The general of the
jesuits insists on being master, sovereign over the sovereign. Wherever the
jesuits are admitted they will be masters, cost what it may. Their society is by
nature dictatorial, and therefore it is the irreconcilable enemy of all
constituted authority. Every act, every crime, however attrocious, is a
meritorious work, if committed for the interest of the society of the jesuits,
or by the order of its general. page 174, in the book, FIFTY YEARS IN THE CHURCH
OF ROME, by Charles Chiniquy. You can read this book online at this
website:References:The Secret History of the
Jesuits, by catholic French historian EdmondParis.The Vatican's
Holocaust, by Avro Manhattan The Godfathers, by Jack T Chick
Smokescreens, by Jack
ChickInformation provided by former high
ranking Jesuit priest, AlbertoRivera, that was taught to him by his
instructor at the Vatican, whosename was Augustine Cardinal
Bea.

The Jesuit Oath of Induction is also recorded in the
Congressional Record of the U.S.A. (House Bill 1523, Contested election case of
Eugene C. Bonniwell, against Thos. S. Butler, Feb. 15, 1913, pp. 3215-3216) It
can also be found in the book entitled, "Subterranean Rome" by Charles Didier
translated from the French and published in New York in 1843. Dr. The article below was taken from the
book Subterranean Rome by Charles Didier, translated from the French and
published in New York in 1843. Dr. Alberto Rivera escaped from the
Jesuit Order in 1967, and he describes his Jesuit oath in exactly the
same way as it appears in this book. After reading this, ask yourself
the question: Is this REALLY the church of Jesus Christ???"When a Jesuit of the minor rank is to
be elevated to command, he is conducted into the Chapel of the Convent
of the Order, where there are only three others present, the principal
or Superior standing in front of the altar. On either side stands a
monk, one of whom holds a banner of yellow and white, which are the
Papal colors, and the other a black banner with a dagger and red cross
above a skull and crossbones, with the word INRI, and below them the
words IUSTUM, NECAR, REGES, IMPIOUS. The meaning of which is: It is just
to exterminate or annihilate impious or heretical Kings, Governments,
or Rulers. Upon the floor is a red cross at which the postulant or
candidate kneels. The Superior hands him a small black crucifix,
which he takes in his left hand and presses to his heart, and the
Superior at the same time presents to him a dagger, which he grasps by
the blade and holds the point against his heart, the Superior still
holding it by the hilt, and thus addresses the postulant:"Superior speaks:My son, heretofore you have been taught
to act the dissembler: among Roman Catholics to be a Roman Catholic,
and to be a spy even among your
own brethren; to believe no man, to trust no man. Among the Reformers,
to be a reformer; among the Huguenots, to be a Huguenot; among the
Calvinists, to be a Calvinist; among other Protestants, generally to be a
Protestant, and obtaining their confidence, to seek even to preach from
their pulpits, and to denounce with all the vehemence in your nature
our Holy Religion and the Pope; and even to descend so low as to become a
Jew among Jews, that you might be enabled to gather together all
information for the benefit of your Order as a faithful soldier of the
Pope.You have been taught to insidiously
plant the seeds of jealousy and hatred between communities, provinces,
states that were at peace, and incite them to deeds of blood, involving
them in war with each other, and to create revolutions and civil wars in
countries that were independent and prosperous, cultivating the arts
and the sciences and enjoying the blessings of peace. To take sides
with the combatants and to act secretly with your brother Jesuit, who
might be engaged on the other side, but openly opposed to that with
which you might be connected, only that the Church might be the gainer
in the end, in the conditions fixed in the treaties for peace and that
the end justifies the means.You have been taught your duty as a
spy, to gather all statistics, facts and information in your power from
every source; to ingratiate yourself into the confidence of the family
circle of Protestants and heretics of every class and character, as well
as that of the merchant, the banker, the lawyer, among the schools and
universities, in parliaments and legislatures, and the judiciaries and
councils of state, and to be all things to all men, for the Pope's sake,
whose servants we are unto death.You have received all your instructions
heretofore as a novice, a neophyte, and have served as co-adjurer,
confessor and priest, but you have not yet been invested with all that
is necessary to command in the Army of Loyola in the service of the
Pope. You must serve the proper time as the instrument and executioner
as directed by your superiors; for none can command here who has not
consecrated his labors with the blood of the heretic; for "without the
shedding of blood no man can be saved." Therefore, to fit yourself for
your work and make your own salvation sure, you will, in addition to
your former oath of obedience to your order and allegiance to the Pope,
repeat after me---The Extreme Oath of the Jesuits:"1, _ now, in the presence of Almighty
God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the
blessed St. John the Baptist, the holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul
and all the saints and sacred hosts of heaven, and to you, my ghostly
father, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, founded by St.
Ignatius Loyola in the Pontificate of Paul the Third, and continued to
the present, do by the womb of the virgin, the matrix of God, and the
rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear, that his holiness the Pope is
Christ's Vice-regent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or
Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of
binding and loosing, given to his Holiness by my Savior,
Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes,
states, commonwealths and governments, all being illegal without his
sacred confirmation and that they may safely be destroyed. Therefore, to
the utmost of my power I shall and will defend this doctrine of his
Holiness' right and custom against all usurpers of the heretical or
Protestant authority whatever, especially the Lutheran of Germany,
Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the now pretended authority and
churches of England and Scotland, and branches of the same now
established in Ireland and on the Continent of America and elsewhere;
and all adherents in regard that they be usurped and heretical, opposing
the sacred Mother Church of Rome. I do now renounce and disown any
allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince or state named
Protestants or Liberals, or obedience to any of the laws, magistrates or
officers.I do further declare that the doctrine
of the churches of England and Scotland, of the Calvinists, Huguenots
and others of the name Protestants or Liberals to be damnable and they
themselves damned who will not forsake the same.I do further declare, that I will help,
assist, and advise all or any of his Holiness' agents in any place
wherever I shall be, in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden,
Norway, England, Ireland or America, or in any other Kingdom or
territory I shall come to, and do my uttermost to extirpate the
heretical Protestants or Liberals' doctrines and to destroy all their
pretended powers, regal or otherwise.I do further promise and declare, that
notwithstanding I am dispensed with, to assume my religion heretical,
for the propaganda of the Mother Church's interest, to keep secret and
private all her agents' counsels from time to time, as they may entrust
me and not to divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing or
circumstance whatever; but to execute all that shall be proposed, given
in charge or discovered unto me, by you, my ghostly father, or any of
this sacred covenant.I do further promise and declare, that I
will have no opinion or will of my own, or any mental reservation
whatever, even as a corpse or cadaver (perinde ac cadaver), but will
unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my
superiors in the Militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ.That I may go to any part of the world
withersoever I may be sent, to the frozen regions of the North, the
burning sands of the desert of Africa, or the jungles of India, to the
centers of civilization of Europe, or to the wild haunts of the
barbarous savages of America, without murmuring or repining, and will be
submissive in all things whatsoever communicated to me.

I
furthermore promise and declare that I will, when opportunity present,
make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics,
Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do, to extirpate and
exterminate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare
neither age, sex or condition; and that I will hang, waste, boil, flay,
strangle and bury alive these infamous heretics, rip up the stomachs
and wombs of their women and crush their infants' heads against the
walls, in order to annihilate forever their execrable race. That when
the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poisoned cup,
the strangulating cord, the steel of the poniard or the leaden bullet,
regardless of the
honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or persons, whatever
may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any
time may be directed so to do by any agent of the Pope or Superior of
the Brotherhood of the Holy Faith, of the Society of Jesus.In confirmation of which, I hereby
dedicate my life, my soul and all my corporal powers, and with this
dagger which I now receive, I will subscribe my name written in my own
blood, in testimony thereof; and should I prove false or weaken in my
determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the Militia of the
Pope cut off my hands and my feet, and my throat from ear to ear, my
belly opened and sulphur burned therein, with all the punishment that
can be inflicted upon me on earth and my soul be tortured by demons in
an eternal hell forever!All of which, I, _, do swear by the
Blessed Trinity and blessed Sacraments, which I am now to receive, to
perform and on my part to keep inviolable; and do call all the heavenly
and glorious host of heaven to witness the blessed Sacrament of the
Eucharist, and witness the same further with my name written and with
the point of this dagger dipped in my own blood and sealed in the face
of this holy covenant."(He receives the wafer from the
Superior and writes his name with the point of his dagger dipped in his
own blood taken from over his heart.)Superior speaks:"You will now rise to your feet and I
will instruct you in the Catechism necessary to make yourself known to
any member of the Society of Jesus belonging to this rank.In the first place, you, as a Brother
Jesuit, will with another mutually make the ordinary sign of the cross
as any ordinary Roman Catholic would; then one cross his wrists, the
palms of his hands open, and the other in answer crosses his feet, one
above the other; the first points with forefinger of the right hand to
the center of the palm of the left, the other with the forefinger of the
left hand points to the center of the palm of the right; the first then
with his right hand makes a circle around his head, touching it; the
other then with the forefinger of his left hand touches the left side of
his body just below his heart; the first then with his right hand draws
it across the throat of the other, and the latter then
with a dagger down the stomach and abdomen of the first. The first
then says Iustum; and the other answers Necar; the first Reges. The
other answers Impious." (The meaning of which has already been
explained.) "The first will then present a small piece of paper folded
in a peculiar manner, four times, which the other will cut
longitudinally and on opening the name Jesu will be found written upon
the head and arms of a cross three times. You will then give and receive
with him the following questions and answers:Question —From whither do you come? Answer — The Holy faith.Q. —Whom do you serve?A. —The Holy Father at Rome, the Pope, and the Roman Catholic Church Universal throughout the world.Q. —Who commands you?A. —The Successor of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus or the Soldiers of Jesus Christ.Q. —Who received you? A. —A venerable man in white hair.Q. —How?A. —With a naked dagger, I kneeling upon the cross beneath the banners of the Pope and of our sacred order.Q. —Did you take an oath?A. —I did, to destroy heretics and
their governments and rulers, and to spare neither age, sex nor
condition. To be as a corpse without any opinion or will of my own, but
to implicitly obey my Superiors in all things without hesitation of
murmuring.Q. —Will you do that? A. —I will.Q. —How do you travel? A. —In the bark of Peter the fisherman.Q. —Whither do you travel? A. —To the four quarters of the globe.Q. —For what purpose?A. —To obey the orders of my general
and Superiors and execute the will of the Pope and faithfully fulfill
the conditions of my oaths.Q. —Go ye, then, into all the world and
take possession of all lands in the name of the Pope. He who will not
accept him as the Vicar of Jesus and his Vice-regent on earth, let him
be accursed and exterminated."After reading these blood curdling oaths.
Read Pope Benedict XVI's (Ratzinger)
comments about these evil men (Jesuits)

ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome

ZENIT Code: ZE06050529Date: 2006-05-05Pontiff's Address to Jesuits"A Precious Spiritual Legacy That Must Not Be Lost"VATICAN CITY, MAY 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).-
Here is a Vatican translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered April 22 in
St. Peter's Basilica to the Jesuits on pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter.

* * *

Dear Fathers and Brothers of the Society of Jesus,

I meet you with great joy in this historical Basilica of St. Peter's
after the holy Mass celebrated for you by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, my secretary
of state, on the occasion of combined jubilees of the Ignatian Family. I address
my cordial greeting to you all.

I greet in the first place the superior
general, Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, and thank him for his courteous words
expressing your common sentiments to me. I greet the cardinals with the bishops
and priests and all those who have desired to participate in this event.

Together with the Fathers and Brothers, I also greet the friends of the
Society of Jesus present here, and among them, the many men and women religious,
members of the Communities of Christian Life and of the Apostolate of Prayer,
the students and alumnae with their families from Rome, from Italy and from
Stonyhurst in England, the teachers and students of the academic institutions
and the many collaborators.

Your visit today gives me the opportunity to
thank the Lord with you for having granted your Society the gift of men of
extraordinary holiness and exceptional apostolic zeal, such as St. Ignatius of
Loyola, St. Francis Xavier and Blessed Peter Faber. For you they are the fathers
and founders: It is therefore appropriate that in this centenary year you
commemorate them with gratitude and look to them as enlightened and reliable
guides on your spiritual journey and in your apostolic activities. St.
Ignatius of Loyola was first and foremost a man of God who in his life put God,
his greatest glory and his greatest service, first. He was a profoundly
prayerful man for whom the daily celebration of the Eucharist was the heart and
crowning point of his day.

Thus, he left his followers a precious
spiritual legacy that must not be lost or forgotten. Precisely because he was a
man of God, St. Ignatius was a faithful servant of the Church, in which he saw
and venerated the Bride of the Lord and the Mother of Christians. And the
special vow of obedience to the Pope, which he himself describes as "our first
and principal foundation" (MI, Series III, I., p. 162), was born from his desire
to serve the Church in the most beneficial way possible.

This ecclesial
characteristic, so specific to the Society of Jesus, lives on in you and in your
apostolic activities, dear Jesuits, so that you may faithfully meet the urgent
needs of the Church today.

Among these, it is important in my opinion to
point out your cultural commitment in the areas of theology and philosophy in
which the Society of Jesus has traditionally been present, as well as the
dialogue with modern culture, which, if it boasts on the one hand of the
marvelous progress in the scientific field, remains heavily marked by positivist
and materialist scientism.

Naturally, the effort to promote a culture
inspired by Gospel values in cordial collaboration with the other ecclesial
realities demands an intense spiritual and cultural training. For this very
reason, St. Ignatius wanted young Jesuits to be formed for many years in
spiritual life and in study. It is good that this tradition be maintained and
reinforced, also given the growing complexity and vastness of modern culture.

Another of his great concerns was the Christian education and cultural
formation of young people: hence, the impetus he gave to the foundation of
"colleges," which after his death spread in Europe and throughout the world.
Continue, dear Jesuits, this important apostolate, keeping the spirit of your
founder unchanged.

In speaking of St. Ignatius, I cannot overlook the
fact that the fifth centenary of St. Francis Xavier's birth was celebrated last
April 7. Not only is their history interwoven through long years in Paris and
Rome, but a single aspiration -- one might say, a single passion -- stirred and
sustained them, even in their different human situations: the passion for
working for the ever greater glory of God-the-Trinity and for the proclamation
of the Gospel of Christ to the peoples who did not know him.

St. Francis
Xavier, whom my Predecessor Pius XI, of venerable memory, proclaimed the "Patron
of Catholic Missions," saw as his own mission "opening new ways of access" to
the Gospel "in the immense continent of Asia." His apostolate in the Orient
lasted barely 10 years, but in the four and half centuries that the Society of
Jesus has existed it has proven wonderfully fruitful, for his example inspired a
multitude of missionary vocations among young Jesuits and he remains a reference
point for the continuation of missionary activity in the great countries of the
Asian continent.

If St. Francis Xavier worked in the countries of the
Orient, his confrere and friend since the years in Paris, Blessed Peter Faber, a
Savoiard who was born on April 13, 1506, worked in the European countries where
the Christian faithful aspired to a true reform of the Church.

He was a
modest, sensitive man with a profound inner life. He was endowed with the gift
of making friends with people from every walk of life and consequently attracted
many young men to the Society.

Blessed Faber spent his short life in
various European countries, especially Germany, where, at the order of Paul III,
he took part in the Diets of Worms, Ratisbon and Speyer and in conversations
with the leaders of the Reformation. He consequently had an exceptional
opportunity to practice the special vow of obedience to the Pope "regarding the
missions" and became a model to follow for all future Jesuits.

Dear
Fathers and Brothers of the Society, today you look with special devotion at the
Blessed Virgin Mary, remembering that on April 22, 1541, St. Ignatius and his
first companions made their solemn vows before the image of Mary in the Basilica
of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

May Mary continue to watch over the
Society of Jesus so that every member may carry in his person the "image" of the
crucified Christ, in order to share in his resurrection. I assure you of my
remembrance in prayer for this, as I willingly impart my blessing to each of you
present here and to your entire spiritual family, which I also extend to all the
other religious and consecrated persons who are present at this audience.

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

FREEMASONS:THE DESTROYERSthe Knights Templars

"The great strength of our Order lies in its concealment; let it never
appear in any place in its own name, but always covered by another name,
and another occupation. None is better than the three lower degrees of Free
Masonry; the public is accustomed to it, expects little from it, and therefore
takes little notice of it. Next to this, the form of a learned or literary
society is best suited to our purpose, and had Free Masonry not existed,
this cover would have been employed; and it may be much more than a cover,
it may be a powerful engine in our hands. By establishing reading societies,
and subscription libraries, and taking these under our direction, and supplying
them through our labours, we may turn the public mind which way we will."
- jesuit-Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Illuminati in John Robison's
Proofs of a Conspiracy, 1793.

The Light Behind Masonry - Bill Schnoebelen (2h:25m - 2006)
Bill Schnoebelen exposes the truth behind the secret club known as Freemasonry.
A large percentage of Masons are kept in the dark on purpose so the real
agenda can be carried out. Bill exposes the intentions behind the images
put forth by the Masons and Shriners.
http://www.prophecyclub.com
... See also
Exposing
The Illuminati From WithinAnything
To Declare? - BBC Southern Eye Freemasonry & Vested Interests (30m.
- 2000)
BBC present clear proof of masonic corruption in planning decisions and on
planning committees. Do we need a register of freemasons or are freemasons
being unfairly singled out?Secret Society with secret ceremonies, protect
and promote fellow members.Guilds disappeared but the secret symbols. Quarrying
areas are densely masonic. On Portland there are 6 masonic lodges and 500
members. Nationally about 1 in 70 men are freemasons, in Portland it is 1
in 8 ... See also
http://www.wittysparks.com/video/3125187310/Rites And Wrongs - ITV West Freemasonry documentary, West
Eye View (30m.- 1999)
This fascinating documentary goes behind the bricked-up windows of the Masonic
temples to reveal the secrets of the craft. "Why does anybody need to throw
a rope around your neck and present you with a sharp blade to reinforce their
obligations? The masons say that Freemasonry is not and never has been a
secret society. The Masonic province of Gloucestershire, is based at
Wotton-under-Edge. Richard Gillett, a retired bank official, administers
an organisation of 4,500 members - grouped in 78 branches, or lodges, across
the county.
Riddles In Stone - Secret Architecture of Washington, D.C.
(2h:55m - 2008)
America. Why was this nation founded? How was the precise location of Washington,
D.C., determined? What is the meaning of the seemingly countless occult images
in our nation's capitol? Volume II zeroes in on the Masonic & Rosicrucian
influence so prevalent amongst our Founding Fathers as they planned, and
began to implement, the layout of America's Capitol.

Please also see the following books too but be careful as many books purporting
to expose freemasonry are either badly researched or deliberate disinformation.
The best four I have come across, in order of their publication, are:

When a freemason is being initiated into the third degree he is nearly as
possible struck on the forehead in the dark, being then pushed back either
into a coffin or onto a coffin shape design on the floor. His fellow masons
then lift him up and when he opens his eyes he is confronted with a human
skull and crossed bones. Under this death threat, and other death threats
he swears, as initiated, into each new degree. How then, can any freemason
of third degree or higher be trusted, particularly in public office? He is
hoodwinked literally and metaphorically, voluntarily placing himself in a
cult... and under a curse.

Secret control of planning committees, how knowledge of the masonic cult
is suppressed: Two local TV documentaries never shown on UK national television
or elsewhere....

Great
Architect of the Universe?

Important note: Not all masons are aware that freemasonry is used as a cover
for evil! Many initiates disapprove of self-seeking criminality and persecution
that goes on, particularly at the higher degrees. These higher degrees are
controlled by a 'higher' order calling itself
'Illuminated' Masonry.
French and continental 'Grand Orient' Freemasonry is largely separate from
'Anglo-Saxon' Freemasonry, as exemplified by the grand lodges of England,
Ireland, Scotland and the USA. Traditionally they have been 'at war'. Anglo-Saxon
Freemasonry believes in the 'Great Architect of the Universe' - GAOTU - and
its rituals are ostensibly monotheistic (if Luciferian) - whereas Grand Orient
Freemasonry is godless.

Complete texts of masonic rituals - three craft degrees and royal arch

The following rituals are copied directly from the small black (craft) and
red (royal arch) books of masonic ritual given to candidates. In these books
many expressions are represented only by their initial letter or, in the
case of passwords and similar words simply by a blank underscore line. These
have all been completed by an ex-royal arch freemason for publication here
on the web.

Links to the full texts of initiation rituals

Note on substitution of 'penalties'

These small Masonic ritual books include an alternative form or 'substituted
text' introduced by masonic officials as a response to criticism of the ritual
'penalties' where the candidate willingly places him or herself under various
gruesome threats of death if masonic secrets are revealed. When freemasons
are accused of using death threats in their initiation rites they often attempt
to rebuke such criticism by saying that these have now been substituted for
a tamer form of words. This substitution is optional in the original book
text.
The modern, alternative form of the penalty is 'ever bearing in mind the
traditional penalty' rather than the older form which is 'under no less a
penalty'. The original 'no lesser penalty' is used here.

The three craft rituals have been extracted from the following masonic
publication:

EMULATION RITUAL
as demonstrated in the
EMULATION LODGE OF IMPROVEMENT

Compiled by and published with the approval of the Committee of the Emulation
Lodge of Improvement

THE PROVINCE OF BRISTOL

Events of the past year have followed the usual pattern for the Province.
There have appeared in local newspapers some anti--Masonic reports and the
Provincial Office has received requests for Masonic information. Invitations
to talk on T.V. and a request to bring T. V. cameras into the building to
interview members have been made. All these impudent requests were politely
turned down. We must all understand that a refusal to answer questions must
be maintained under such circumstances. Silence must be our policy. The letters
from the Grand Secretary are most informative and he has given us guidelines
for dealing with the media. Brethren who have encountered difficulties from
outside should inform our Provincial Secretary who keeps a record of all
such occurrences.
The Annual Meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge was held on Saturday, 9th May
1987 in the Conference Room of the Council House. A very good attendance
was recorded. We were pleased to welcome several Provincial Grand Masters
and their officers and' it was a most happy meeting. V.W. Bro. Jack Smallcombe
was re-appointed as Deputy Provincial Grand Master. W. Bro. P.M. Stevens
(5052) was invested as Provincial Senior Grand Warden and W. Bro. E.J. Higgs
(7401) was invested as Provincial Junior Grand Warden. I must thank our two
retiring Wardens, W. Bro. A. G. Hopton (4503) and W. Bro. RS. Smith (4701)
for their splendid work throughout the year. They well supported the Masters
and did much to raise monies for the organ fund.
As every member must know the organ in No. 1 Lodge Room has given trouble
for a long time. It has now been restored to its former glory. Unforeseen
difficulties were encountered which prevented the organ builders from completing
the repairs in time for our first meetings in September. It is now finished
and sounds a different instrument and our organists are happy with it. A
celebration organ recital together with a buffet took place on 24th October,
Bro. F.J.C. Bray (5052), Bro Ivan Fowler (1404) and Bro. C.J.C. Hart (3663)
played, with Bro. Michael Taylor (1404) Baritone as Soloist. Families were
invited and it was an enjoyable occasion.
Demonstrations of our unique working have been given in other Provinces and
requests have been received taking us up to 1989.
We have entertained several visitors from overseas including the Grand Historian
of the Grand Lodge of Oregon, W. Bro. Martin Nickelsen and a party of German
bretl1ren who were guests of Royal Clarence Lodge.
Parts of the building have undergone repairs and new equipment has been fitted
in the kitchen which will greatly assist our catering staff and in turn benefit
us on the receiving end. The dining rooms, vestibule and lower floor have
been decorated and a more cheerful atmosphere now exists. Our Board Member
W. Bro. B.R Woodward has to be thanked for supervising al1 this work. Appropriate
table place indicator badges for use at Provincial Grand Lodge visits have
been made by W. Bro. D.A. Knights-Branch (Provincial Grand Treasurer) and
wands in Nos. 1 and 3 Lodge Rooms have been refurbished by W. Bro. R. S.
Smith. We are indebted to these brethren for so kindly thinking of these
improvements.
A new portrait of the Grand Master, Bro. His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent
now adorns the Vestibule.
At the Annual Investiture in London our Deputy Provincial Grand Master was
promoted to Past Grand Sword Bearer and W. Bro. D.H. Fox (7401) was appointed
to the rank of Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies and on the following
day he received the rank of Past Grand Standard Bearer in Supreme Grand Chapter.
Hearty congratulations are due to both these brethren on these well earned
honours.
The Annual Carol Service at St. Mary Redcliffe Church was again well attended.
The willingness of the church authorities in granting us the great privilege
of using their beautiful edifice is fully appreciated by the Province.
The Royal Arch Chapters of the Province have enjoyed an interesting year
and a number of visitors were recorded. The ceremonies have been very well
presented and I congratulate the Principals for their zeal and enthusiasm.
I commend all Master Masons who are not Royal Arch Masons seriously to consider
joining one of our Chapters.
The Annual Convocation of Provincial Grand Royal Arch Chapter took place
at Park Street on 22nd May. E. Companion Jack Smallcombe was re-appointed
as Second Provincial Grand Principal and E. Companion B.R Woodward (3145)
was appointed, obligated and installed as Third Provincial Grand Principal.
E. Companion
A.G. Hopton (6673) was invested as Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies
on the retirement of E. Companion A.M. Graves (686) who has for twelve years
served the Province with dignity and distinction. We thank him and wish him
a long and happy retirement.
Now that the Grand Charity appeal is completed and our Organ Fund finished
a "Bristol Masonic Charitable Trust" is in process of being formed. This
will be a permanent fund with wider objects than the Bristol Masonic Benevolent
Institution and it will have power to give support to worthy non-Masonic
Charities in our own area. More news will be forthcoming shortly.
Our Librarian and Archivist and his willing assistants have found more treasures
hidden in the Library. Brethren should visit this fascinating room on our
top floor to see the interesting books and Masonic items there. Brethren
with anything of interest. even old menus and summonses should show them
to W. Bro. Haugh who will be pleased to display them.
In June Bro. Peter Dibb (4561) retired from his duties as Hall Keeper. We
thank him for his good services during the past five years and wish him and
Mrs. Dibb a long and happy retirement
Bro. W. Holman (2943) has been appointed Hall Keeper and he and Mrs. Holman
are now in residence in the flat at the top of our building.
Membership has fallen slightly due to deaths and brethren moving out of the
district. Younger members are needed to fill offices in the lodges and chapters.
There are pamphlets available from the Secretary's office which explain
Freemasonry and its objects and are suitable for handing to non-Masonic friends
who may show an interest in joining our Order.
Let us look forward to another happy year in 1988. I offer good wishes and
fraternal greetings to every member of the Province.
A.G.J. Mickleburgh,
Provincial Grand Master,
Grand Superintendent in and over the Province of Bristol. December, 1987

FREEMASONS' HALL, PARK STREET, BRISTOL, OS1 5NH.

HALL KEEPER Brother William A. Holman
The Hall is NOT open to Members nor to Visiting Brethren until 5.30 p.m.,
Monday to Friday evenings Ground Floor and Basement ONLY (Service lighting);
Saturdays 4.0 p.m. There is no access to the First or Second Floors (Monday
to Friday evenings) for Meet-ings or Rehearsals until 6.0 p.m. The service
entrance in Hill Street is never available to Members nor to Visiting Brethren.
Passenger Lift is NOT available until 6.0 p.m.
After-Meetings to terminate at 10.30 p.m. prompt whereby Treasurers, Stewards
and Brethren are clear of the premises before Final Closing Time - 11.15
p.m.
Arrangements for emergency Meetings as well as additional Rehearsals and/or
Committee Meetings - other than Regular Meet-ings, etc., listed on pages
11 to 21- to be made with the Hall Manager.
Rentals to be remitted to the Provincial Office.
Telephone Call Box (Kiosk) situated on right of swing doors to Basement Cloak
Rooms at foot of main staircase. Usual Telephone Call Box charges.
All Smoking is prohibited above the Ground Floor (except in Committee Rooms
on second floor)

PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF BRISTOL

BY-LAWS

ARTICLE I
In accordance with the Book of Constitutions (Rule 65) a Provincial Grand
Lodge consists of the Provincial Grand Master, the present and past Provincial
Grand officers, the Provincial Grand Stewards for the year, the Master, Past
Masters and Wardens of all Lodges in the Province, and Past Masters of any
Lodge under the English Constitution, if members of Grand Lodge; but no Brother
can be a member of a Provincial Grand Lodge unless he is a subscribing member
of a Lodge within such Province.

II.
A Provincial Grand Lodge shall be held once at least in every year, on the
Second Friday in February, at half-past seven o'clock in the evening, or
on such other day or at such other time as the Provincial Grand Master may
appoint. At least seven days previous to each Meeting a Summons shall be
sent by the Provincial Grand Secretary to the actual Provincial Grand Officers,
and also to all other Brethren entitled to attend the Provincial Grand Lodge
and whose names shall have been returned pursuant to Article XV.

III.
At every Meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge it shall be the especial duty
of the Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies and his Assistant, and of
the Provincial Grand Pursuivant and his Assistant, to guard against the admission
of any but those entitled to attend or who are duly invited under the authority
of the Provincial Grand Master or his Deputy; and to see that all are properly
clothed and wearing the Jewel of their present or past Office.

IV.
The Provincial Grand Registrar shall have the custody of the Seal of the
Provincial Grand Lodge, and shall affix, or authorise the Provincial Grand
Secretary to affix, the same to all Documents issued by the authority of
the Provincial Grand Lodge, to which the Provincial Grand Lodge shall direct
the Seal to be affixed. He shall take care that all Documents to-which the
Seal is affixed are in due form.

V.
The Provincial Grand Secretary shall keep a Register, in which shall be inserted
the names of the present and past Officers of the Provincial Grand Lodge.
He shall also record, or cause to be recorded, the names of the members present
at each Meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge.
NOTE- Correct minutes of the proceedings of the Provincial Grand Lodge or
of ally Board or Committee thereof, shall be properly kept in suitable books
for the purpose, which shall be produced by the Provincial Grand Master for
the inspection of the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge, whenever required.
- Vide Constitutions, "Provincial and District Grand Lodges, .. Rule 82.

VI.
The Provincial Grand Lodge being opened, the minutes of the last regular
Provincial Grand Lodge and of any intervening Especial Provincial Grand Lodge,
are to be read and put for confirmation, and all other business then regularly
proceeded with.

VII.
It being very desirable that all matters of business to be brought under
the consideration of Provincial Grand Lodge, shall, so far as practicable,
be previously made known to the Members. Any Member of the Provincial Grand
Lodge intending to move any resolution, or to submit any matter for its
consideration and decision, shall state in writing, the substance of his
intended motion or business, and transmit the same to the Provincial Grand
Master or his Deputy, through the Provincial Grand Secretary, at least
twenty-eight days before the meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge at which
the same is to be considered and decided on. The substance of such intended
motion or business shall be inserted in the Summonses for such meeting, and
no motion or other matter shall be brought into discussion in the Provincial
Grand Lodge, until such communication shall have been first made, unless
the permission of the Provincial Grand Master, or his Deputy, shall have
been first obtained. This regulation does not extend to the Provincial Grand
Master, or his Deputy, who may, without any previous notice, at all times
introduce, or permit to be introduced, any matter for the consideration and
decision of the Provincial Grand Lodge as occasion may require.

VIII.
At the meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge to be held in the month of February
annually, the Provincial Grand Officers shall be nominated, installed and
invested by the Provincial Grand Master, or his Deputy, and at the same time
a Treasurer shall be elected, who is thereby authorised to receive all monies
belonging or payable to the Provincial Grand Lodge, and discharge all accounts
due therefrom.
NOTE- The Treasurer is required to keep a regular account of his. receipts.
and payments, and to produce such, Accounts at every Provincial Grand Lodge;
and the same are to be audited once in each year, and a copy thereof transmitted
to the Lodges within the Province. - Vide Constitutions, "Provincial and
District Grand Lodges," Rule 85.

IX.
The Furniture, Jewels, and all other Property 'belonging to the Provincial
Grand Lodge, shall be under the care of the Provincial Grand Treasurer, who
shall be responsible for the same. An Inventory thereof shall be made and
kept, and on every change in the Office of Treasurer, the newly-elected Treasurer
shall ascertain by examination that all the Furniture, Jewels, and other
Property comprised in such Inventory are forthcoming, and sign a memorandum
to that effect, but, in case he shall find any article missing, he shall
make a special note thereof, and forthwith report the same to the Provincial
Grand Master, or his Deputy.

X.
The Treasurer's Accounts shall be audited by two Masters, or Past Masters
of Lodges, to be appointed by the Provincial Grand Master, or his Deputy,
previously to the Annual Meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge. At such Meeting
such Audited Accounts shaH be read, and a copy thereof forthwith transmitted
by the Provincial Grand Secretary to the Lodges within the Province.

XI.
In order to establish a Local Fund, to be appropriated to Charitable and
other Masonic purposes, each Lodge in the Province shall pay to the Provincial
Grand Lodge 60p per annum for every contributing Member, and £1.00 for
every Brother who has been initiated. Fee for registering a new Lodge
£2.10.

XIII.
The Fees specified in Article XII, shall not be payable on the re-appointment
of any Past Provincial Grand Officer to the same office, nor on the appointment
of any Past Provincial Grand Officer to an office inferior in rank to that
which he has before held, and in respect of which he has paid an appointment
fee. And any Brother who may be promoted from an inferior to a superior office
in the Provincial Grand Lodge shall pay one-half only of the fee payable
in respect of the office to which he is advanced.

XIV.
No Brother shall be allowed to rank as a Past Provincial Grand Officer unless
he has paid his appointment fee and served in his office for one term, or
has been appointed to Past Provincial Grand Rank in accordance with Rule
69, Book of Constitutions.

XV.
The Master of each Lodge in the Province shall annually, on or after the
31 st day of December, but in no case later than the 21 st day of January
next following, cause a correct Return up to December 31 st of its Members,
and the Brethren initiated or admitted therein during the preceding twelve
months, with the dates of the joining, initiation, passing and raising of
each Brother, to be made out in the prescribed form, and signed by him, and
delivered to the Provincial Grand Secretary, and shall at the same time pay
the sums of money due or payable to the Provincial Grand Lodge by virtue
of Article XI. At the same time such Master shall cause a Return, signed
by him, to be made to the Provincial Grand Secretary, of each Member of his
Lodge claiming to be entitled to attend the Provincial Grand Lodge.

XVI.
Should any Lodge neglect for one whole year to make its Returns and Payments
agreeably to Article» XI. and XV.. the Master, Wardens and Past Masters
of such Lodge shall not. without the especial permission of the Provincial
Grand Master. or his Deputy, be allowed to attend any Meeting of the Provincial
Grand Lodge until such Returns and Payments shall have been made. And in
case of continued neglect after admonition. such Lodge shall be reported
to the Grand Lodge of England, and such measures adopted as are warranted
by the Laws and Constitutions of the Order.

XVII.
If at any time it shall hereafter be deemed advisable to repeal all, any,
or either of these By-Laws, and to substitute any other By- Law or By- Laws,
such proposed amendment shall, before the same is proposed in Provincial
Grand Lodge, be reduced into writing, and submitted to the Provincial Grand
Master or his Deputy, and if found not to contain anything contrary to the
Constitutions or the Ancient Landmarks of the Order. then such amendment
may be proposed in Provincial Grand Lodge (subject to the regulations contained
in Article VII.). and. if the proposition be seconded. the question shall
be put thereon for the opinion of the Provincial Grand Lodge. If approved
by a majority of the Members, then present, such amended By-Laws shall be
forwarded to the Grand Master for his approval, and, on this being obtained,
shall become the By- Laws of the Provincial Grand Lodge.

XVIII.
These By-Laws, Rules and Regulations shall be binding on all the Lodges within
the Province, unless and until the same shall be legally repealed or altered
in pursuance of Article XVII., and the same shall be forthwith printed for
use of the Provincial Grand Lodge Officers and the Lodges of the Province.

We have perused the afore going By-laws, and find they do not contain anything
contrary to the Constitutions or the Ancient Landmarks of the Order.
GEORGE ABRAHAM GIBBS,
Provincial Grand Master
ERNEST HENRY COOK,
Deputy Provincial Grand Master
JOHN GARD,
Provincial Grand Secretary,
BRISTOL, January 31st, 1913
Approved by the M.W. GRAND MASTER,
E. LETCHWORTH, G.S.
18th February, 1913

SUMMARY OF THE MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF
BRISTOL

The Annual Meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge of Bristol was held in the
Conference Room of the Council House, College Green, Bristol, on Saturday,
the 9th day of May 1987 (in accordance with the terms of Provincial Grand
Lodge of Bristol By-Law No.2).
The Provincial Grand Master for Bristol, The Right Worshipful Brother Alfred
George John Mickleburgh, presided and was supported by the Deputy Provincial
Grand Master of Bristol, the Very Worshipful Brother Jack Smallcombe, P.G,.Swd.B.
The Provincial Attendance Register was signed by 126 qualified Brethren,
and the Lodge Attendance Sheets by 28 Masters of Lodges in the Province,
31 Wardens, 71 Installed Masters and 46 Master Masons. Total attendance 302.
Provincial Grand Lodge was opened at 2.45 p.m. followed by the Opening Hymn.
The Roll of Officers of the Provincial Grand Lodge was called. All Officers
or their deputies were reported in attendance.
The Provincial Grand Secretary announced that apologies for absence, coupled
with fraternal greetings and good wishes, had been received from several
Provincial Grand Masters, Deputy Provincial Grand Masters and Provincial
Grand Secretaries. From the Province, six Grand Officers, one Provincial
Grand Officer, seventeen Past Provincial Grand Officers, one Warden of Lodge
and one Installed Master.
The Roll of Lodges in the Province was called and each of the 33 Lodges was
represented.
It was proposed that the Minutes of the last Annual Meeting of the Provincial
Grand Lodge of Bristol, held in the Council House, Bristol, on Saturday the
10th day of May, 1986 (a Summary of which appears on pages 35 to 42 of the
1987 Provincial Year Book to be taken as read by the Provincial Grand Secretary
W. Brother R.W.M. Howes, seconded by the Provincial Junior Grand Warden,
W. Brother R.S. Smith. This was unanimously confirmed and signed by the
Provincial Grand Master.
The Provincial Grand Master, the Deputy Provincial Grand Master; the Provincial
Grand Masters for Monmouthshire, Stafford-shire, Herefordshire, Devonshire
and Gloucestershire; the Deputy Provincial Grand Masters of Hampshire &
Isle of Wight, Dorset, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Devonshire, Herefordshire
and Monmouthshire; the Assistant Provincial Grand Master of Somerset; the
Provincial Grand Secretaries of Gloucestershire, Warwick-shire, Monmouthshire,
Dorset and Devonshire and the Grand Officers of the Province were honoured
with the salutes due to their respective ranks.
Preparatory to the reading of IN MEMORIAM the Provincial Grand Master said
that death had taken a sad toll of the Brethren of Provincial Grand Lodge,
all of whom had rendered loyal and valued service. At his request, the Brethren
rose and stood in Solemn Silence as a tribute of regard and a token of
remembrance during the reading of their names:-
W. Br. A. S. Brooks
W. Br. W.G.C. Brooke
W. Br. C.W. Childs
W. Br. A.F. Cotterell
W. Br. K.R.D. Durie
W. Br. R.G. Gell
W. Br. A.W.E. Hutchings
The audited Accounts of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Bristol, for the year
1986 were submitted by W. Brother D.A. Knights- Branch, and showed a balance
in hand at 31st December 1986 of £1,610.94. The adoption of the Accounts
as presented by the Provincial Grand Treasurer was proposed by the Provincial
Senior Grand Warden, W. Brother A.G. Hopton, seconded by the Provincial Junior
Grand Deacon, W. Brother T.J. Smith and
W. Br. E.R. Jackson W. Br. W.C. Long W. Br. J. Macrae W. Br. S.J. Parfitt
W. Br. C.H. Savage W. Br. A.C. Sly unanimously approved by the members of
Provincial Grand Lodge, coupled with their thanks to the Provincial Grand
Treasurer for the assiduous discharge of his duties.
The Provincial Grand Treasurer reported that the Inventory of the Provincial
Grand Lodge was in order at date.
The Provincial Grand Treasurer proposed the following grants to be authorised
for payment from the funds of Provincial Grand Lodge.
(1) a grant of £52.50 to the Bristol Masonic Benevolent Institution.
(2) a grant of £52.50 to the Provincial Grand Secretary.
The proposal was seconded by the Provincial Grand Registrar W. Brother A.B.
Lavelle and carried unanimously.
The Provincial Grand Chaplain, W. Brother H.D. Scott proposed and the Provincial
Senior Grand Deacon, W. Brother L.B. Whyatt seconded that W. Brothers R.A.
Chermside and A.B. Jenkins be appointed to audit the Provincial Accounts
for the ensuing year.
The Provincial Grand Master then declared all Offices vacant, and thanked
the outgoing Officers for their excellent work and loyalty throughout the
past year. He then directed the Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies with
his Deputy, to collect all Provincial Grand Jewels and Insignia of the several
Offices.
The Deputy Provincial Grand Master V.W. Brother J. Small-combe proposed and
the Provincial Grand Secretary W. Brother R.W.M. Howes seconded that W. Brother
D.A. Knights-Branch, P.Pr.J.G.W. be elected as Pr.G. Treasurer for the ensuing
year. There being no further nomination, the Provincial Grand Master declared
W. Brother Knights-Branch duly elected.
The Provincial Grand Master appointed and invested his Provincial Grand Officers
for the ensuing year. The Provincial Grand Treasurer, previously elected,
was also invested, Past Ranks were conferred on seven Installed Masters,
and fifteen Promotions made. See pages 46/47.
The report of The Provincial Grand Librarian and Archivist to the Province,
W. Brother L. Haugh, P.Provincial G.Std.B., was presented to the Provincial
Grand Master.
The Deputy Provincial Grand Master announced that he had selected the following
Brethren whose photographs would appear in the Provincial Photograph Album.
W. Brother R.S. Smith, P.Pr.J.G.W. W. Brother A.A.C. Heron, P.Pr.Std.B.
The report of the Bristol Masonic Benevolent Institution for 1986 was presented
(see page 163).
Addressing the Brethren the Provincial Grand Master said:- "Brethren, Welcome
to our Annual Meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Bristol. We are
particularly honoured today by the presence of our several important visitors.
To those brethren who have been invested today we all offer our congratulations.
This is a very special occasion for them. They have waited 8 or 9 years for
their first collar - a matter over which I have no control, but I assure
everyone that by patience and industry the highest honours are to be obtained
and your future progress will be followed with interest. Take every opportunity
to serve your lodge and the Province and you will find your Masonic life
will become ever more interesting.
The recent promotion of our D.P.G.M. to the office of Past Grand Sword Bearer
and the appointment of W. Bro. D.H. Fox to the rank of Past Assistant Grand
Director of Ceremonies have brought further honours to them and to our Province.
We congratulate them most heartily, our Deputy is now a Very Worshipful Brother
- Directors of Ceremony please note!
I must now thank all those brethren who have finished their year of office
today, in particular I praise our Wardens. Not only have they fulfilled their
duties by many visits to all our lodges but they had a great deal to do with
fund raising for the Grand Charity and also with the organising of our Centenary
festivities and the Cathedral Thanksgiving Service, of which more later.
We must also thank our D.C. and his willing helpers for the hard work they
have put in arranging this meeting and of course they will be scene shifting
again when we have closed. Our catering staff, cleaners, tylers and those
who assist in the office and in other duties voluntarily and otherwise -
all have earned our warm thanks for their dedication to the Province and
its well-being.
Br. Peter DIBB, our hall keeper and who also manages the Bar is retiring
this Summer and we thank him for performing his tasks so cheerfully and ably
and wish both him and Mrs. Dibb many happy years of retirement.
Requests for demonstrations of our unique Bristol ceremonies are often received
by our Secretary. I must emphasize that sanction of these requests can only
be given on my authority and no lodge or brother in this Province is permitted
to suggest to anyone that a demonstration of even a part of a ceremony, can
be arranged by him.
If we are to retain our ancient and unique ritual it must be safely guarded
by us. Every lodge should ensure that brethren who take office, know their
duties and those who do not attend rehearsals and lodges of instruction should
be warned that absenteeism may exclude them from promotion.
Last year marked our Bi-centenary as a Province and it was quite an eventful
year. At our annual meeting in May we were honoured to have as our guests
from GRAND LODGE The Asst. Grand Master, Rt.W.Br. The Rt. Hon. Lord Farnham;
Grand Secretary, V.W.Br. Commander Michael B.S. Higham, RN. and The Grand
Director of Ceremonies, V.W.Br. P.A. Mann.
Our Festival for The Grand Charity was held in June at The Connaught Rooms,
London and the Grand Master honoured us with his presence. It was a memorable
occasion and I again thank all those brethren who worked so very hard, and
some over
many years, to ensure its success. This year a further donation of £1,000
was sent to St. Peters Hospice from the Grand Charity.
In October a Thanksgiving Service was held at the Cathedral. W.Br. the Rev.
H.L. Franklin, P.A.Gr.Chap; and Sub Dean of Wells, gave a superb address
of which a copy is f1!ed in our archives. The Masonic Singers contribution
to the service was much enjoyed. Afterwards there followed a luncheon at
The Council House, with a musical programme. I must also mention the magnificent
Masonic cake which was made by the wife of one of our Past Masters. It was
a very happy day for us all.
In January a most enjoyable social evening was held in our Hall when many
of us had the pleasure of conducting our wives and families around the lodge
rooms. This event was a sell out and so another similar function has been
arranged for next month. I strongly advise brethren to obtain tickets soon
as they are being snapped up already.
Brethren, as you know the Organ in No.1 Lodge Room is to be renovated. It
is many years since this instrument underwent major repairs. It has given
trouble and caused embarrassment at ceremonies. Those undertaking the restoration
work assure me that it will be restored to its former glory.
We are very fortunate to possess such a grand organ and to have amongst our
members some talented musicians to enhance our ceremonies with their music.
The cost is being met by contributions from all our lodges and I sincerely
hope that every brother will contribute to the appeal very soon if he has
not already done so. £800 per lodge is asked for and I am pleased to
tell you that some lodges have already sent this amount to the Appeal Fund.
Our Masonic Society is arranging the annual Carol Service at St. Mary Redcliffe
Church this December. I am sure it will receive your full support as usual.
The Secretary of the Provincial Bowling Association has arranged a most
attractive programme for this summer.
Brethren interested in this ancient and fascinating game should contact W.Br.
Marke of The Colston Lodge.
Some of our lodges have made fraternal visits outside the province and in
turn we have enjoyed entertaining brethren from many parts of the country
besides overseas. These contacts are not only interesting but they help prove
our Masonic teaching that wherever we may find ourselves, a Masonic door
will be open to receive us with a fraternal welcome.
The Deputy Provincial Grand Master, the Provincial Grand Secretary and I
have received invitations to the Annual Meetings of several neighbouring
Provinces and they are most enjoyable. Unfortunately now and then some dates
clash and we cannot accept.
I hope all our visitors have enjoyed their sojourn amongst us today. and
will go home feeling that the journey was worth-while.
Brethren, I thank you one and all for your support and wish you well.
After Prayer had been offered by the Provincial Grand Chaplain, W. Brother
R.M. Davidson, the Provincial Grand Lodge was closed in due form at 4.50
p.m., following by the singing of the National Anthem.

The collection taken during the singing of the closing hymn amounted to
£193.31.
R.W.M. HOWES Provincial Grand Secretary

Templars
Knights Templar. A religious, military and banking order (Knights of the
Temple of Solomon) founded by Crusaders in Jerusalem to defend the Holy
Sepulchure and Christian pilgrims; a kind of Foreign Legion. Founded by Hugues
de Payns with nine followers in 1118. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux drew up
the Templars rule, 72 articles, in 1128. Invented the checking account. The
world's first multinational. After Jerusalem was lost finally in 1244 the
order's prestige and credibility fell. Abuses of landed and financial poer
increased. King Philip the Fair of France ordered the arrest for of all French
Templars in a suprise raid on Friday 13th October 1307. The French Treasury
was located in the Temple in Paris, outside the King's control. Some captive
Templars confessed they worshiped Baphomet and the devil in the form of a
cat. French Templar leaders, Templar preceptor of Normandy Geoffroy de Charnay
and Grand Master Jacques de Molay were burnt at the stake for in 1312. The
Templars were disbanded in the 14th century and most of their estates were
given to the Knights Hospitallers.
Illuminati A masonic sect founded by Adam Wieshaupt (the 'first man of the higher
wisdom') in Bavaria in 1778 claiming that the illuminating grace of Christ
resided in it alone.
Rosicrucian Society A society professing esoteric religious doctrines, venerating the emblems
of the rose and the cross as symbols of Christ's resurrection and redemption,
and claiming various occult powers. The order believed an association was
needed in Europe that would guide rulers along the paths of wisdom and good
[C17: from Latin Rosae Crucis, Rose of the Cross, translation of the German
name Christian Rosenkreutz (b.1378 d.1484), supposed founder of the society]
Occult
Of or characteristic of magical, mystical, or supernatural arts, phenomena,
or influences. [C16: from Latin occultus, past principle of occulere, from
ob over, up + culãre, related to celare to conceal]
Freemasons
A widespread occult order, of Free and Accepted Masons, swearing oaths to
secrecy and mutual aid. Claims to have been founded in London in 1717.
Development of medieval Craft Masons, retaining secret signs and passwords
by which itinerant workers in the guild recognised each other.
Order of the Garter
The highest order of British Knighthood. It consists of the sovereign, 31
knight companions and extra members created by statute.
Theosophical Society
Founded by Elena Petrovna Blavatsky, author of Isis Unveiled (1877), in 1875.
Claims intuitive insight into the divine nature, but denies the existance
of a personal God. Claims to be derived from the sacred writings of Brahmanism
and Buddhism.
Knights of Malta
Military order of Knights who, by tradition, have been allowed to assassinate
anyone with impunity guaranteed by all the royal families in Europe.

More definitions:

The reception of a mason into the 33rd degree

from defunked website - www.theunbrokencircle.com

Alchemy: The Science of decomposing and recomposing things, as well as of
changing their essnetial nature and raising it higher--transmuting them into
each other. While chemistry deals with lifeless matter, alchemy employs life
as a factor, and deals with higher forces of nature and the conditions of
matter under which they operate. In its lowest aspect, it deals with physical
substances, but in its highest aspect it teaches the regeneration of the
spiritual man, the purification of mind, will and thought, and the ennobling
of all the faculties of the human soul.
Bilderberg Group: a powerful global elite,Group together with their 'sister'
organisations-the Trilateral Commission (known also as the "Child of Bilderberg")
and the Council on Foreign Relations plot the subversion and silent takeover
of constitutional governments and world economy
Craft: the Craft is a term used to refer Wicca and Witchcraft.
Demon: (derived from "daemon") an artificial elemental created by a neurotic
complex of energies and emotions, whether of one person or many, hence
contraproductive or harmful in influence and effect.
Evocation: Calling elements or Gods/Goddesses to be present in ritual.
Earth Magic: The energy that exists within stones, herbs, flames, wind,
earth,grass,water, and other such natural objects not listed here .
Folklore: Traditional sayings, cures, faerie tales,knowledge and folk wisdom
of a particular locale which is separate from their mythology.
Gnosticism: the practice of several early and pre-Christian cults who believe
that spiritual emancipation could only be achieved by the attainment of knowledge
of the self. This idea of 'gnosis' through self knowledge and self love almost
converges with satanic philosophies. The Catholic Church still regards the
Gnostic gospels as heretical.
Golden Dawn Society: The Golden Dawn, founded in 1887, was an offshoot of
the English Rosicrucian Society created twenty years earlier by Robert Wentworth
Little, and consisted largely of leading Freemasons.The Golden Dawn, with
a smaller membership, was formed for the practice of ceremonial magic and
the acquisition of initiatory knowledge .
Higher Self: that part of us which connects our corporeal minds to the Collective
Unconscious and with the divine knowledge of the universe.
Horned God: one of the most prevalent God-images in Paganism.
Illuminati: Illuminati is a Greek word meaning Illumination a name given
to those who submitted to a Christian baptism. The Order of the Illuminati
was established with some unspecified ties to the Masonic lodges of Germany
orgin ; as a secret society within a secret society.
Jew-itch: name coined by some Pagans of Jewish origin who are actively seeking
out the pagan roots of their birth religion.
Kabbala: mystical teaching from the Jewish-Gnostic tradition. Ceremonial
Magick and the Alexandrian traditions are based in these teachings.
Lesser Magic: the art and ability bend people to your will through subtle
management of your appearance and/or actions. This can be achieved through
observations of body-language and character traits.
Lucifer: (Latin for "light-bearer"), name for the planet Venus when it appears
as the morning star; Vulgate translation of the Hebrew expression for "bright
one." The Hebrew prophet Isaiah used the term in a satirical allusion to
the king of Babylon, describing the frustrated ambition of the morning star
to rise higher than all the other stars: "How art thou fallen from heaven,O
Lucifer, son of the morning" (quote from bible passage Isaiah 14:12).
Majestic 12: a top secret goverment created group to handle the supposed
1947 recovery and evaluation of a crashed alien space-craft in new mexico
.
New World Order: an economic occult elite comprising less than 1% of the
population. Their immense wealth and power enable them to exercise control
over the governmental process, they effectively operate the country as a
Feudal oligarchy.
New Age: the mixing of metaphysical practices with structured religion.
Occult: ("hidden, concealed") secret, esoteric; term used for magick and
other esoteric arts and sciences, such as astrology or alchemy
Pagan: From the Latin word Paganus,meaning a "country dweller" the Church
uses it as a derogatorily to describe any person who is not Christian, Jew
or Moslem. A follower of a polytheistic religion
Qaballa: mystical teaching from the Jewish-Gnostic tradition.
Rosicrucian:The first mention of Rosicrucian is a 1614 German document that
purports to recount the life of a legendary medieval knight, Christian
Rosenkreuz, who traveled to Morocco and the Near East to acquire secret wisdom
and the "elixir of life." The Rosicrucians, thereby, developed as a secret
order of men and women who claim to possess wisdom that has been handed down
from ancient times.
Shamanism: the practice of shamans which is usually ritualistic or magickal
in nature, sometimes can be religious.
Skull And Bones: The Skull & Bones is a Society It is a Senior year society
which exists only at Yale.Members are chosen in their Junior year and spend
only 1 year on campus, the Senior year, with the group
Temple of set: originally formed in 1975 by disaffected members of the Churchof
Satan led by Michael Aquino. The ToS has developed in a more Crowleyan direction,
basing its belief on Set the Egyptian god of evil.
Teutonic Knights: German military religious order founded dueing the time
(1190–91) during the siege of Acre in the Third Crusade. It was originally
known as the Order of the Knights of the Hospital of St. Mary of the Teutons
in Jerusalem. The order was one of nobles, and the knights took the monastic
vows of poverty , chastity , and obedience.
Uncasting: uncasting is opening a circle at the end of a completed ritual.
Voodoo: polytheistic religion derived from worship of gods in African and
the beliefs of Catholicism. Practiced mainly by the West Indians.
Wicca: an ancient religion based on the religion of the aboriginal Europeans
involving the worship of the old Gods/Goddesses and the practice of magic.
Yggdrasil: one of the best known Tree of Life symbols. It unites all existence
from the Underworld, to that of the Physical world.
Zodiac: The stars in the heavens divided into twelve main groups. Imaginary
patterns are imposed upon various star patterns as an aid to remember the
stars.In Astrology, the Zodiac signs signify personality types for the people
born under them
nb. There are many other occult systems including Wicca, Satanism, Golden
Dawn etc. etc.

"The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we
are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies,
to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers
of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed
the dangers which are cited to justify it."
President John F. Kennedy - address to newspaper publishers, April 27, 1961

Illuminati in a nutshell

AIMS

(1) Abolition of ALL ordered national governments
(2) Abolition of inheritance
(3) Abolition of private property
(4) Abolition of patriotism
(5) Abolition of the family as the cell from which all civilisations have
stemmed.
(6) Abolitions of all religions so that the Luciferian ideology of a totalitarian
elite may be imposed on mankind.

STRATEGIES

(1) USE TEMPTATION TO ENTRAP
To use monetary and sex bribery to obtain control of people already occupying
positions in high places in ALL governments and other fields of human endevour.
Once fallen they were to be held in bondage by application of political and
other forms of blackmail and threats of financial ruin, public exposure,
and physical harm.
(2) GET THEM WHILE THEY'RE YOUNG
Illuminati on the faculties of colleges and universities were to recommend
students belonging to well-bred families for special training in
internationalism. They were to be at first persuaded and then convinced that
men of special ability and brains had the RIGHT to rule those less gifted.
Three special Illuminati schools are located at Gordonstoun in Scotland;
Salem in Germany; and Anavryta in Greece.
(3) TERMINATOR AGENTS
Blackmailed Illuminati puppets and Illuminati educated students were to be
used as agents and placed behind the scenes of ALL governments as 'experts'
and 'specialists' so they could advise the top executives to adopt policies
which would bring about the ultimate destruction of the religions they werre
elected or appointed to serve.
(4) TO OWN PUBLIC DISCOURSE
The Illuminati were to obtain control of the press and all other agencies
which distribute information to the public. News was to be slanted so that
the public would get behind Illuminati puppets and come to believe in a One
World Government as the only solution to the world's problems.

This photo might be of interest. I took it last Summer (2005) at
Holker
Hall Garden Festival and it shows clearly the Cavendish logo of the snake
with a crown on its head!!
This serpent logo is everywhere on the estate and in the house. It is built
into decorative mosaics in the garden and is printed on every piece of stationary
in the shop etc. etc.
Rumour has it that Lord Cavendish slept in a coffin and that must relate
to high level Free Masonic rituals or something like that. A friend who is
very aware of these things looked at the house and spotted the copper roofed
turret room that is central to the huge building and he said that he wouldn't
be surprised if rituals were conducted there. He also said that he suspected
there would be a large underground area and this has been confirmed. A friend
knows someone who works at the hall and she said that the area underneath
the hall is big enough for all the Royal family to shelter in case of an
emergency!!
If anyone else knows anything re Cavendish family and Illuminati connections,
let me know. James Casbolt's and David Icke's descriptions of the occult
rituals are so difficult to accept and understand, as they are total anathema
to anyone who has a good heart and who is gentle, peaceful and compassionate
as we are.
The only way I cope is to imagine whole families who have been brought up
to accept the rituals as 'normal.' They also have a different DNA and can't
experience emotions as we do. If we practice 'sending' them love and compassion
then I am sure the positive effects will be felt deep within them.....
In peace from Pen xx
Contact: "Penny" <peacepals1(at)tesco.net>

Ritualistic site noted as “place of
interest” by local deputies

By: Matthew Chew
Posted by editor Tue Nov 14, 2006
http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/ViewPost/16562
Kern County Sheriff's Deputies located a site in the Old Towne area last
week they are categorizing as a "meeting place" or "site of interest" because
of several unusual items located there.
Neighbors reported seeing suspicious activity by teenagers dressed in black
or "gothic" attire. The teens were seen entering and leaving private property
in a rural area of Old Towne through a barbed wire fence.
The Sheriff's department contacted the property owner to verify if the activity
was authorized, which the property owner denied.
Sheriff's deputy Roy Scott said that the sight, "is definitely something
of interest."
Aside from the issue of trespassing on private property, a great deal of
work has been done on the land, for what appears to be some form of ritualistic
gathering.
There is a large pit, with a fire ring at the bottom and some sort of stadium
seating carved into the sides of the pit. It resembles an ancient amphitheater.
Across from the pit is a stone fire ring in the shape of a pentagram. Although
associated with Satanic worship, a pentagram has been used by different cultures
and religions throughout history.
There are also several animal skulls and bones on the site and a tree carved
with a pentagram and an inverted cross. Sharks teeth are embedded at each
tip of the pentagram. A beheaded skunk was found near one of the fire pits
and a meat cleaver laying nearby the mutilated creature was confiscated by
deputies.
Scott said, "It took a lot of effort and work."
The sheriffs are making routine checks of the site but have not yet encountered
anyone on the property.
Scott said evidence found in the area does indicate recent activity, but
currently the Sheriff's Department classifies the location only as a gathering
place, or "place of interest."
http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/ViewPost/16562

Letter to the editor: Freemasonry not satanic

By: Geoffrey Braslow
I read the article in the Nov. 8 Tehachapi News regarding sheriff's deputies
investigating a site in Old Towne that had allegedly been used as a site
for satanic ritual. The reporter then goes on to describe the pentagram as
a symbol used by other cultures or religions such as Freemasonry. That touched
a nerve.
First of all, Freemasonry is neither a religion nor a culture. Freemasons
ask only that its members believe in a supreme being. Admittedly, the reporter
did not say that Masons are evil, but he links them in the same article that
reports on satanic ritual. In fact, Freemasonry in and of itself does not
use the pentagram as one of its symbols. The inverted star, however, is used
as the symbol of Order of Eastern Star, a group of charitable ladies who
are sponsored by Masons. The photograph of the Masonic square and compass
surrounded by the letter "G" is identified as having five points. But if
the author looks carefully, he will see six and another point.
His reporting on the crime may be accurate, but had he done better research
before writing this article, he would have known that the pentagram has been
used as a representation of good things longer than it has symbolized Satanism.
He is only sensationalizing. There are fifty pentagrams that adorn our own
flag of the United States. The American Medal of Honor uses the pentagram.
The pentagon is a pentagram. The pentagram is an ancient pagan symbol that
represented nature and life and man's connection with the gods and goddesses.
Freemasonry supports charities and education. To use it as an example in
an article was irresponsible.

CLAIRE SMITH - The Scotsman - 28th October 2006
http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1594402006
ON THE south wall of Rosslyn Chapel, alongside the entrance historically
used by women, is a very curious carving. It shows a blindfolded figure,
kneeling between two pillars and holding a Bible, with a noose lying loosely
around his neck.
To anyone familiar with the rites of Freemasonry, this carving bears a remarkable
similarity to a Masonic initiation ceremony. But if Alan Butler and John
Ritchie, the authors of Rosslyn Revealed, are correct, the resemblance is
anything but coincidental.

Rosslyn has long been associated with Freemasonry, a worldwide secret society
thought to have originated among the guilds of medieval craftsmen. But Butler
and Ritchie believe the connection between Rosslyn and Freemasonry is more
dramatic than anyone previously suspected - arguing that the beliefs of
Freemasonry were first formulated by the stonemasons who built Rosslyn. They
believe the chapel was not simply a reflection of the philosophy of Freemasonry,
but its original inspiration.
In Rosslyn Revealed, they claim the beliefs of Freemasonry are rooted in
the Ebionite philosophy of Sir William Sinclair and Gilbert Haye, creators
of Rosslyn Chapel. Ebionites denied the divinity of Jesus Christ and exalted
John the Baptist.
Ritchie says: "Ebionites did not believe in a hierarchical church. They believed
every individual was unique and had their own relationship with God. They
believed in the betterment of mankind and in man the artist. Freemasons also
believe in the betterment of mankind, in education and the individual - we
believe Rosslyn was the origin of that philosophy."
The authors believe that Haye, a polymath and former chancellor at the French
court, came to Scotland because it had a reputation for independent thinking.
The book argues that the master masons who came to Midlothian from across
Europe to build the chapel between 1456 and 1496 became, in effect, the first
Freemasons. The secretive nature of the craft, they say, was forged at Rosslyn,
through rituals and ceremonies devised by Haye and Sinclair - linked closely
to the beliefs of the Ebionites.
The carvings of Rosslyn are unlike those of a normal church because they
reflect Ebionite symbolism rather than the more mainstream Christian tradition.
Ebionism had its origins in a pre-Christian mystery tradition and incorporated
beliefs and symbols from Judaism, Islam and Egyptian and Persian traditions.
Butler and Ritchie believe Sinclair and Haye enshrined these beliefs and
symbols in the very fabric of Rosslyn - to ensure they were understood by
future generations.
Many believe some of the leading figures of the Renaissance may have been
Ebionites. But the sect, with its emphasis on individuality, was a threat
to the hierarchical beliefs of the established church.
When Sinclair and Haye gathered the finest stonemasons in Europe to build
Rosslyn, they paid them well. To ensure they kept quiet about the role of
Ebionism and the mystical symbolism incorporated into the design of the chapel,
Ritchie and Butler believe they swore their workers to secrecy by forming
them into a society - binding them together with oaths, ceremonies and terrifying
threats; the very roots of Freemasonry.
Ritchie says: "As it turns out, Rosslyn is far more important to Freemasonry
than we thought. In fact, Freemasonry owes its very existence to the chapel."
In Rosslyn Revealed, the authors say: "The earl was faced with a problem.
How would it be possible to pass on knowledge of the timeless truths carved
into the walls of the chapel without divulging its secrets to the world at
large and thereby bringing retribution down on his own head and that of his
children [because Ebionites were viewed as heretics]? The creation of Freemasonry
was his response."
Ironically, when the authors first embarked on their research almost ten
years ago, they were sceptical about the chapel's supposed links with
Freemasonry. Many of the carvings inside the chapel with supposed Masonic
links were actually added in 1871, when the chapel was extensively restored
- and Butler and Ritchie are convinced that the carving which visitors to
the chapel are told is of the apprentice who built the so-called Apprentice
Pillar, linked to a well-known Masonic legend, is actually the defaced image
of an apostle.
However, they admit they were wrong. Ritchie says: "This is something which
is so typical of Rosslyn. Every time you think you have worked things out,
it throws up something which completely takes you by surprise."
While it might seems incredible to associate a tiny chapel in Midlothian
with the very creation of a secret brotherhood which spread worldwide and
played an important role in the creation of the American constitution, the
link between Freemasonry with the Sinclair family is clear.
The earliest known Freemason lodge, Lodge 0, was recorded at Kilwinning in
Ayrshire in 1598 and was associated with a Tironesian Abbey on Sinclair land.
The oldest written records of Freemasonry are found in Scotland and the Sinclairs
of Roslin were hereditary Grand Masters of Scottish Freemasonry.
The authors found a compelling piece of evidence in the "first degree tracing
board" of Freemasonry, which shows three pillars, just like those at the
front of the nave in Rosslyn Chapel. The pillar on the right, which is the
most ornate, represents beauty and stands in the same place as the Apprentice
Pillar - which has long been associated with Masonic legend.
Much of the metaphor found in theoretical Freemasonry, which was to become
so powerful and widespread around the world, is based on different styles
of architecture and stone craft.
And one of the most curious facts about Rosslyn Chapel is that it contains
examples of many different styles of architecture. Ritchie says: "It has
examples of every kind of arch and window that were available at the time.
It is like a guide book, an instruction book for the guild."
Astronomy, in particular the planet Venus, has an important role in Masonic
ritual and Ritchie and Butler believe Rosslyn was used as an observatory
from which to chart the movements of Venus.
While the beliefs of Freemasonry have changed and been embellished over the
years, the authors believe they have their core origins in the Ebionite belief
systems incorporated into the design of Rosslyn. They write: "At the heart
of Freemasonry we still find imperatives critically important to William
Sinclair and Gilbert Haye. These include a deep reverence for John the Baptist,
an enduring belief in justice, equality and fraternity, a reverence for the
Noahide Laws of ancient Judaism and a recognition for that all-important
part of the year around the autumn equinox.
"The same heady cocktail of Old Testament legend, Ebionite Christianity,
mystery rite religion and a reverence for the human sprit that was personified
by the 15th-century Sinclairs was passed directly to Freemasonry and in part
survives with the craft to this day."
While the Masonic angels inside the chapel are undoubtedly a piece of Victorian
fancy, the Masonic initiate on the outside of the building may well have
been the first of his kind.
Once again, the facts about Rosslyn Chapel may well prove to be even more
extraordinary than the fiction. In the book, Butler and Ritchie write: "Long
after interest in The Da Vinci Code has waned, Freemasons from around the
world will still be making their way to Rosslyn Chapel. And that is how it
should be, because without this extraordinary building Freemasonry would
never have existed. Rosslyn Chapel is without any doubt the oldest and most
important of all Freemasonic temples."
• Find out more about the authors' investigations at www.rosslynrevealed.com

Apprentice Pillar: nothing is as it appears

Second part of the initiation into the third degree

VISITORS to Rosslyn Chapel have always been fascinated by the so-called
Apprentice Pillar, the mediaeval masterpiece at the right of the altar. At
the foot of the pillar are the dragons of Yggdrasil and twined around the
column is an everlasting vine which links all the ornate carvings in the
chapel.
The legend told to visitors is that this pillar was carved by an apprentice
in his master's absence - and that when the master saw its beauty, he murdered
its creator.
Many have doubted the story. Early accounts speak of the Prince's Pillar,
and the carving said to be the head of the apprentice shows signs of being
roughly modified to make it seem like a young man.
Butler and Ritchie believe the pillar represents the tree of life, the mystical
symbol found in the Jewish text known as the Kabbalah, which shows the connection
of Heaven and Earth.
But they also found a strong link between the design of the pillar and the
tale of St Matthew's staff. In the biblical story, Matthew, right, doubts
Jesus and is told to plant his staff in the ground.
In the Bible story, the staff grows into a great tree, with "a vine twisted
around it and honey coming from above" - and from the base of the tree springs
a source of water and "creatures that creep and crawl".
Like everything at Rosslyn Chapel, this is not as it seems. The authors believe
the association with St Matthew's staff was a cover story, to distract attention
from the profusion of strange and rather un-Christian carvings covering the
chapel walls.
And, while the story of St Matthew's staff is a conventional Bible story,
it is also a link to a surviving Hebrew gospel, in which John the Baptist
is exalted as a prophet.
Nothing is as it appears at Rosslyn. When investigations were carried out
around the chapel in the 1980s, it was discovered that foundations for a
much bigger building had been laid. Even today, Rosslyn looks curiously
unfinished from the outside but, in the authors' view, this was done deliberately
to keep the prying eyes of the bishops away from the interior of the church.
As they say, there is still much to be discovered and "what rites and secret
services once took place in the chapel at night when the shutters were safely
barred may remain forever a mystery to all of us".
But the miraculously preserved carvings reveal a world which encompassed
Judaism, Eastern mysticism, and images clearly from China - and even possibly
from America. "We can be certain that no single overriding religious belief
dominates in this sacred spot," they write. "There is something for every
believer here, in what was clearly intended to be a compendium of religious
and philosophical thought."

FREEMASONRY FACTS

Doors of the Masonic Temple at Covent Garden in London

1 You don't have to be a Christian to be a Freemason. However, Masons do
believe in a "supreme being". Masonic rituals refer to the creator of the
world as the "divine architect".
2 The fraternity of Freemasonry uses the metaphor of a stonemason's tools
and crafts to describe an esoteric system of morality.
3 The square and compass is the key symbol of Freemasonry. Some believe it
is a metaphor for the need for moral responsibility balanced by reason.
4 There are three degrees of Freemasonry, each of which is accompanied by
ritual around which there is great secrecy. Freemasons begin as Apprentice,
and progress to Master then Grand Master.
5 Freemasons are sworn to secrecy when they become a member of a lodge, but
identify themselves to each other using special handshakes, signs and code
words.
6 Freemasons and the Catholic Church have never had an easy relationship.
The current Pope, above, issued a decree saying the craft was "irreconcilable
with the doctrine of the church".
7 The secrecy and oaths of loyalty of Freemasonry have brought it under suspicion
from conspiracy theorists. In an episode of The Simpsons, Mr Burns hallucinates
and sees talking flies saying: "Freemasons rule the world."
8 Around 200,000 Freemasons were exterminated in Nazi Germany.
9 John the Baptist, left, is the patron saint of Freemasons. His Saint's
Day falls on 24 June - the summer solstice.
10 Scotland has the earliest recorded Freemason lodge in the world and also
the lodge with the earliest written records. Robert Burns was a dedicated
mason and made useful contacts at lodges in Edinburgh.

The 'meditation room' where a candidate for freemasonry is left alone
before being conducted to the 'Lodge' in order to be initiated into the first
degree. Just before he 'recieves the light' the candidate, who is regarded
of being still 'profane' must draw up his philosophical and moral testament
- language on the skeleton's apron is French

http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1587572006
CLAIRE SMITH - The Scotsman - 27th October 2006
WHEN he caught sight of the bright red pentagon glowing above the great rose
window of Rosslyn Chapel, Alan Butler almost let out a scream. At that point,
he knew beyond doubt that Rosslyn was far more than just another medieval
church.
By rediscovering the lightbox, forgotten for hundreds of years, Butler and
John Ritchie, co-author of Rosslyn Revealed, moved closer to illuminating
their theory that the truth about the chapel is even stranger than the fiction
made world-famous by Dan Brown.
"It was a real Indiana Jones moment," recalls Ritchie. "Older inhabitants
of Roslin village had told the story of a mysterious light which appeared
in the chapel on St Matthew's Day [21 September]. But the story had been
ignored by successive histories of the chapel."
While some eagle-eyed guides in the chapel had spotted the tiny window at
the top of the east wall, few bothered to point it out to visitors. The tale
of how Ritchie and Butler rediscovered the hidden lightbox and why it was
key to understanding the chapel's secrets is told in Rosslyn Revealed, out
today.
It all began when Ritchie, a resident of Roslin who has had a lifelong
fascination with the chapel, discovered an old Victorian print of Rosslyn
by Hill and Adamson. Taken in 1844, it shows the East wall before the Rose
window was built. When he showed it to Nancy Bruce, a guide in the chapel
and his second cousin, she pointed out the aperture above the window and
said: "That must be where the light comes through on St Matthew's Day."
Ritchie, a former Reuters cameraman, trained a telephoto lens on the tiny
opening and discovered it was in the shape of a pentagon and appeared to
be lined with some sort of highly reflective material. He explains: "I thought
'we have got to test this' and went to buy a power torch." Thanks to the
scaffolding currently built around the chapel to dry it out after disastrous
renovation work, he was able to climb up and shine the torch through the
aperture, while Butler stood in the centre aisle to see the effect. In the
book, the authors describe what happened next: "At most, we expected a small
glimmer of white light from the lamp to show above the East window in the
comparative gloom of the chapel's interior, but we couldn't have been more
wrong. Instead of the faint glimmer we had expected to appear in the lightbox,
what met our eyes was a perfect orb of steady, strong, blood-red light."
Butler struggled to conceal his excitement from other visitors in the chapel,
which included a Chinese film crew. "We were absolutely stunned. I made such
a loud exclamation that my wife Kate, who was with me, had to shut me up.
We knew at that moment that it had been deliberately created to do this and
that the people who built this church were not Christians in the accepted
sense of the word." The discovery delayed publication of the book until the
authors had explored the implications of the mysterious lightbox. Without
erecting scaffolding inside the chapel, it was not possible to get close
enough to the window to find out exactly what the box was made of. Ritchie
believes the red light may come from a precious gem and that the reflective
sides of the pentagon are made from highly reflective mica. The shape is
significant; the pentagon or its close friend, the pentagram, or five-pointed
star, is a common feature in ancient civilisations - and an important symbol
in Freemasonry. Many associate it with magic or satanic rituals, but it was
once widely used as a symbol of Christianity, with the five corners representing
the five wounds of Christ. By recreating a scale model using Perspex and
mirrors, the authors managed to demonstrate that the pentagonal lightbox
creates a red doughnut of light, which at a certain angle refines itself
into a beam of pure white light. On 21 September, the book was at the printers,
but Ritchie and Butler returned to the chapel to see if St Matthew's Light
still shone in the chapel.
The pair and a few guides gathered at the back of the chapel in the early
morning to see if the lightbox was still functioning. Even on a dim Autumn
day, the group of witnesses saw the pentagon glowing with a strong red light.
"I was absolutely stunned," says Butler. "I had to pinch myself; I thought
I was having a dream. People don't find these sorts of things."
The discovery shed new light on another unusual feature of the chapel. While
most medieval churches were built facing east, the precise direction was
determined by the day the sun rose on the relevant saint's day [the saint
to which the church was dedicated]. Rosslyn was built facing due east, although
it was completed before the existence of accurate compasses.
And there was more. The position of the secret window meant the light shone
through on just two days of the year - 21 March, the first day of spring,
and 21 September, the autumn equinox, or beginning of winter. Ritchie says:
"It is so exact that if it had been an inch either way, this phenomenon would
not have happened on the day it does. That shows exactly how Rosslyn was
built."
Ritchie believes the lightbox was partly obscured by the rose window created
in 1871 but that before this it would have created a light which illuminated
a certain point on the chapel floor. A similar phenomenon can be found at
St Sulpice in Paris [also featured in The Da Vinci Code], where a light reflects
along the Paris meridian at midsummer, and Chartres Cathedral. The mysterious
church of Rennes le Château, source of the Templar controversy, has
dancing blue lights, which appear in January.
Ritchie also believes the light also has a correlation with the chapel's
founder William Sinclair, whose name translates as Holy Light.
For Butler, an expert on stone circles, megalithic structures and
astro-archeology, the discovery of the lightbox is confirmation the chapel's
roots are in beliefs which predated Christianity by thousands of years. Both
authors believe the rediscovery of the lightbox is a key to unlocking the
true meaning of Rosslyn Chapel. Butler says: "In a way, this goes back to
pre-Christian beliefs, to sun worship. It shows Rosslyn is unlike any other
church in the world - in effect it is a medieval stone circle."
The full significance of the way Rosslyn was aligned on a true east-west
axis before the existence of accurate compasses has still to be explored
- but it fits with Ritchie and Butler's belief that Gilbert Haye and William
Sinclair, who built the chapel, were masters of astrology. Unlike any other
church, the inside of Rosslyn Chapel was once fitted with shutters, suggesting
it may have been used as a secret observatory.
The authors also believe the foundation stone for the chapel was laid on
the day of a rare conjunction between Venus and the Sun which is associated
with the Shekinah, the female aspect of God. The hidden window may have been
used as a way of measuring the movements of the planets, particularly of
Venus. And, if the authors' experiments are correct, the light the secret
window projected on to the back of the chapel casts a shape remarkably similar
to the Eye of Horus, the all-seeing symbol of Freemasonry.
Even a person looking at Rosslyn Chapel with an untrained eye can see aspects
unusual for a Christian church. The roof is sprinkled with roses and stars,
and there are more Green Men - symbols of paganism - than any other church
in the world. Carvings in the chapel encompass symbols of Judaism, Hinduism,
Islam - and encompass the nature and sun worship of the earliest human religions.
The authors are certain there is much more to discover about the secrets
of chapel. After almost a decade of research for the book, Ritchie says:
"We feel as if we have only written the introduction."
• Rosslyn Revealed by Alan Butler and John Ritchie is published by O
Books at £19.95.

Ebionites who harboured a Pope's son

The Masonic 'meditation room' in Orleans, France

THE conventional story of Rosslyn Chapel says Earl William Sinclair created
it in the woods to thank God for a long and prosperous life. But John Ritchie
and Alan Butler believe Gilbert Hay, listed in histories as "tutor to the
Sinclair children," was key to the creation of the chapel.
The authors believe Sinclair and Hay were Ebionites, followers of a pre-Christian
mystery tradition which had survived since biblical times.
Previously, Hay had been an adviser at the French court, personally knighted
by the King of France and a confidant of French duke Rene D'Anjou. Hay was
one of the most educated men in Europe and, while at Rosslyn, assembled one
of the world's great libraries.
Ritchie and Butler believe Hay's real motive in settling at Rosslyn was to
supervise the building of the chapel, which, far from being a conventional
Christian church, enshrined the beliefs of the Ebionite sect. The Ebionites,
who denied the divinity of Jesus and exalted John the Baptist, were persecuted
and outlawed under the Inquisition. But they still had powerful friends,
including Pope Pius II, below, who before becoming pontiff travelled on a
secret mission to Scotland.
As a diplomat, the future pope fathered an illegitimate child, which, according
to expert historians, he left with Sinclair to raise as his own.
Having friends in high places was just one of the reasons Sinclair and Hay
were left alone to fill their chapel with symbolism wildly different from
that of the orthodox Christian Church.
As Ebionites, their beliefs were a fusion of Pantheism, Persian dualism and
Judaism. The feminine principle was acknowledged alongside the masculine
and the individual was encouraged to have his or her own experience of God.
Look around Rosslyn Chapel and the evidence is there, in the carvings of
feminine symbols of roses, in the portrayals of the Veil of Veronica, the
Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene.
In Rosslyn Revealed, Ritchie and Butler argue the Sinclair family, who are
often taken to have been Knights Templar, were, in fact, Ebionites.
They ask: "Could it be possible Earl William Sinclair was a member of a family
that had maintained its Ebionite, Jewish roots across 1,400 years of history?"
The evidence presented by Rosslyn Chapel seemed to indicate this could indeed
be the case.

Factfile

'Whenever a Templar was received into the Order he denied Christ; he was
forced to spit on a crucifix and often even to trample it underfoot' -
Michelet

• Rosslyn Chapel was built between 1456 and 1496. Master masons came
from all over the world to build it.
• The chapel has attracted some illustrious visitors over the years,
including Sir Walter Scott, Dorothy Wordsworth, Queen Victoria, Robert Burns,
Samuel Johnson, JMW Turner and Mary Queen of Scots. More recently, Michael
Bentine, one of the original Goons, was a great enthusiast. He was a keen
dowser and convinced Rosslyn was the centre of an unusually strong energy
field. Rosslyn Revealed is dedicated to Bentine, below, while another unlikely
expert is Rat Scabies, drummer with punk band The Damned. He wrote Rat Scabies
and the Holy Grail with a journalist friend.
• In the 1560s a mob fuelled by John Knox and hatred of idolatry marched
on the chapel to destroy it, but it was saved by local man Thomas Cochrane,
who diverted the mob to Rosslyn Castle and its cellars of fine wine.
• The restoration in 1871 by the 4th Earl of Rosslyn was inspired by
Queen Victoria. She was seduced by the chapel and appalled by its state of
disrepair.
• The chapel is covered by a canopy and scaffolding, a result of disastrous
repair work in the 50s. The inside of the chapel was coated in cement and
became waterlogged. Rosslyn Chapel Trust, chaired by the current Earl, has
applied for £11m of public money to restore the chapel.
• Some claim to have counted 110 green men in the chapel, as well as
one highly unusual green woman. The men of the woods, with foliage emerging
from the corners of their mouths, are an ancient symbol of man's interdependence
with the natural world, and are also found in Hinduism.
• In The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Sir Walter Scott told the legend
of the glowing red light which is said to emanate from the chapel when one
of the Sinclairs is close to death. "O'er Roslin all that dreary night, a
wondrous blaze was seen to gleam; 'twas broader than the watch-fire's light,
And redder than the bright moonbeam."

By Neil Mackay = Sunday Herald - 02 July 2006

MASONIC halls throughout Scotland are under covert surveillance by anti-terror
police after the outlawed loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence
Association (UDA) successfully infiltrated the controversial secret society.
David Begg, the grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, told the
Sunday Herald that Freemasons have been advised by police that lodges throughout
the country – particularly in the west of Scotland – are under
surveillance by officers targeting the UDA. One Fife lodge has been penetrated
by loyalist terrorists who used the premises for fund-raising and operational
planning. For more than 18 months, UDA member Steven Moffat used the St Kenneth
Lodge in Kennoway as a cover for loyalist paramilitary activity.
The UDA is one of Ulster’s most brutal paramilitary organisations. Using
the cover-name the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) it waged a campaign of sectarian
assassination against Northern Ireland’s Catholics. One of its most
notorious “brigadiers”, Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair, fled
to Ayrshire after his expulsion from Belfast following an internecine loyalist
feud.
Moffat is serving five years in jail after being imprisoned by the High Court
in Edinburgh earlier this month under the Terrorism Act 2000 for membership
of a proscribed organisation and possession of firearms.
He was found with a Browning 9mm automatic pistol and ammunition at his home.
Police also discovered flags, balaclavas and other paramilitary regalia,
including documents detailing the UDA’s initiation ceremonies.
Police and prosecutors believed the items “were for the preparation
or instigation of an act of terrorism”. Moffat joined the UDA in Belfast
at least three years ago.
The Mason’s Fife and Kinross provincial grand master, David Wishart,
said Moffat had used the Masonic Lodge in Kennoway for UDA meetings for at
least 18 months. A member of the lodge who was also in the Orange Order had
arranged for Moffat and his loyalist associates to hold meetings in the Kennoway
lodge. Wishart insisted that no other members knew the true nature of
Moffat’s activities.
Once Moffat’s actions were discovered, the Mason and Orange Order member
who assisted him resigned after being threatened with expulsion from the
Masons.
“I was horrified to find out that this had been going on,” said
Wishart.
Moffat, who was not a Freemason but often drank in the St Kenneth Lodge’s
bar, used the Kennoway Masonic Hall for two types of meetings. Firstly, regular
private “strategy” meetings with Moffat and 10 other men occurred
over 18 months. The UDA members discussed their plans in a closed room while
lodge members drank at the Mason’s bar in the same building.
The second type of meeting was fund-raising events for loyalist causes in
Northern Ireland. Up to 70 people attended three fundraisers held at the
Masonic Hall over an 18-month period.
Wishart said: “The UDA infiltrated and used us for their illegal purposes.
These people are very clever. We were trusting; they gained our confidence
and then we were manipulated.”
Kennoway Masonic Hall was closed for eight weeks for an internal Masonic
inquiry following police raids in the area in connection with Moffat’s
activities.
At the time of his arrest, Moffat was planning to hold an initiation ceremony
for Scottish UDA recruits at the Masonic hall. Wishart has since altered
hall letting procedures and leasing now has to be cleared by a committee
and a lodge member must vouch for those letting the premises.
The Orange Order has been banned from using the Kennoway lodge’s premises.
Previously, Orangemen regularly hired out the hall.
“Due to rogue members of the lodge linked to the Orange Order and the
UDA we took the decision to no longer allow them the use of the premises,”
said Wishart.
Senior police officers told Wishart that they were “mounting similar
surveillance operations in the west of Scotland” against Masonic lodges
which might have been infiltrated by loyalist terrorists.
“I can’t say if there is or isn’t a risk elsewhere,”
said Wishart, pointing out that members of some of the 49 Fife lodges under
his command were also in the Orange Order. One other lodge in Fife also allows
the Orange Order to rent its premises for functions.
David Begg, the grand master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, said if any
lodges were involved in supporting the UDA they would be closed. He has warned
Scotland’s 32 provincial masters to be extra vigilant but cannot compel
lodges to introduce committee-led hall letting procedures similar to those
adopted by Kennoway.
“We can’t tell lodges what to do. It is up to the trustees of each
lodge but we will be producing general guidance in the near future,”
he said.

An ancient secret society; a demand for a papal apology; and a network of
hidden tunnels. Strange things have been stirring in Hertfordshire recently.
Oliver Burkeman goes in search of the Knights Templar and, perhaps, the cup
of Christ

Tuesday January 4, 2005
The Guardian
One of the problems with secret societies - especially the kind whose members
exert a shadowy influence on the course of world events - is that they can
be a bit difficult to track down. Never was this more true than of the Knights
Templar, the ancient Catholic order rumoured, among other things, to know
the whereabouts of the Holy Grail. Officially, the Templars don't exist,
having been driven underground by the pope more than 600 years ago; in The
Da Vinci Code, they are described as inhabiting "a precarious world where
fact, lore and misinformation had become so intertwined that extracting a
pristine truth was almost impossible". Nobody even seems to agree on what
the Holy Grail is: some say it is the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper;
others that it was used to collect his blood at the crucifixion. Needless
to say, the Templars haven't been too eager to clarify any of this publicly.
Then, late last year, the group apparently made an unprecedented communication
with the outside world. It emerged that the Templars were demanding an official
apology from the Vatican, for having persecuted them in the 14th century
- and that the Vatican was giving "serious consideration" to the matter.
The demand came in a letter, signed on behalf of the grand master of the
Templars. And for the conspiracy theorists who have pursued the knights for
centuries, it was accompanied by a tantalising clue: an address. In Hertford.
If there is something implausible in the idea that huge stretches of world
history have been secretly coordinated from a market town just north of the
M25 - well, maybe that's what they want you to think. The local newspaper,
the Hertfordshire Mercury, certainly seems convinced: over the past few months
it has published several intriguing stories quoting local Templars, who told
its reporter of a secret network of tunnels under the town that was still
in use by the order. "It reaches beyond well known central Hertford locations,"
one Templar said, "including the tourist office, the castle, Monsoon, Threshers,
the post office, Bayley Hall, and the council offices." Treasures of "immense
importance" were hidden there, it was claimed. Was the quest for the Holy
Grail finally about to come to an end? More surprisingly still, was it about
to come to an end underneath Monsoon on Market Place?
The man who has persuaded the Vatican to consider apologising, Tim Acheson,
meets the Guardian in icy morning fog in Hertford, wearing smart pinstriped
trousers and a thick winter overcoat. His midnight-blue sports car is parked
nearby. "As you might expect," he says, setting the tone for the day, "there
are going to be some things that I'm not able to discuss."
Acheson claims to trace his ancestry to a renowned Scottish Templar family
of the same name, though he won't confirm his own role in the group. Might
he just be a practical joker who managed to fool the Vatican? "That could
well be, couldn't it?" he says, as we order coffee in a Hertford establishment
closely modelled on All Bar One. "I can't tell you anything to prove that
I'm not. I think that would be a perfectly reasonable theory."
There is, however, sound historical footing for the idea that a Vatican apology
might be warranted. The Templars were victims of their own success: they
had been granted the right to operate, during the era of the Crusades, with
unprecedented freedom, levying taxes and growing rich by establishing some
of Europe's first banks. (According to legend, they also invented the biscuit.)
Envy and hostility ran high, until, on Friday, October 13 1307 - the original
unlucky Friday the 13th - hundreds of Templars were arrested in France. They
stood accused of homosexuality, of devil worship, of crimes "horrible to
contemplate, terrible to hear of", in the words of King Philip of France,
who ordered the arrests. They were tortured, by the Inquisition, into admitting
heresy, including their scandalous belief that Jesus had had children with
Mary Magdalene. Their grand master, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake
a few years later, and the Templars were officially disbanded by the Pope.
But only officially. "The vast majority of Templars either escaped, or didn't
escape, but survived," Acheson says. So how did they end up in Hertford?
History records that a number of them were imprisoned in Hertford Castle,
but how did Hertford become a centre of operations? "I can't really tell
you that. All I can tell you - it's going to be quite vague - is that they
flourished in western Europe." He explains that there is a stained-glass
window in St Andrew's Church, just down the street, that contains a clear
metaphorical allusion to the Holy Grail, and a cryptic hint that it might
be hidden in Hertford. In the picture, Acheson adds, Jesus and Mary Magdalene
are looking at each other "in a very meaningful way". (Later, I find the
window, interrupting local parishioners who are decorating the church for
Christmas. I think I can see what Acheson means about Jesus's expression,
although mainly he just looks a bit depressed.)
Among the many things that don't quite add up about the Templars' request
for an apology is: why now? Why break the silence, drawing all manner of
unwanted curiosity from Grail hunters and Da Vinci Code tourists? Public
accountability is a laudable goal, but it's hardly something you expect from
the secret rulers of the universe. Indeed, when a group of amateur archaeologists
recently announced their intention to investigate Hertford's tunnel network,
someone posted a message on a local website warning that anyone who tried
would be "dealt with". The message read: "Anybody intending to find out more,
let alone discover hidden areas of the labyrinth, should check their life
insurance policy very carefully indeed."
Acheson simply says he thinks it would be fitting for the Vatican to issue
their apology in time for 2007, the 700th anniversary of the start of the
Templar suppression. "Among my peers, there are people like me who believe
that these issues deserve further attention ... There's a new generation
coming through that strongly believes it's time to be a bit more open. I'm
part of that generation." Besides, he says ominously, "Things are about to
happen that will deserve attention."
The notion that "things are about to happen" recurs throughout the Templar
conspiracy theories that clog up the internet. Seemingly, 2000 had been awaited
as a watershed, the moment the Templars' secret knowledge would cascade into
the public domain. It didn't happen, of course.
So what sort of "things" is Acheson talking about?
"I can't tell you."
OK. But could you maybe give me a rough idea of the timescale? Are these
things going to happen this year? This decade? Next century? "I honestly
can't tell you. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I can't tell you."
Acheson takes me on a walking tour of Hertford, and proves a knowledgeable
guide, but a frustratingly cryptic one, too. So I decide to take matters
into my own hands and head for Monsoon. Gemma, the manager, responds far
more patiently to Grail-related inquiries than might arguably be her prerogative.
There's no tunnel beneath the shop, she insists, "just the store room" -
but it's "definitely haunted. When we have sales meetings there you can hear
someone walking over our heads, or doing the vacuuming. But upstairs, the
shop's closed and empty."
Has she ever found anything unexpected down there? Like maybe a cup, or
something? "No," she says. "But there is ... the Accessorize cupboard." She
leads the way through the store to the adjoining branch of Accessorize, pushing
past a display stand of silky hats towards a corner cupboard. Opening it,
she points to a square piece of metal resembling a manhole cover, sunk into
the floor. "We don't know what's under there. But there's a strange smell."
She enlists a colleague, Jo, who has worked there longer. "Have they ever
looked underneath there?" Gemma asks.
"Yes," Jo replies. It would be atmospheric to be able to report, at this
point, that her eyes open wide with terror, that she starts to tremble. But
she doesn't. "It smelt a lot," is all she can remember.
Generally, in fact, the people of Hertford seem rather reticent on the subject
of the Grail. Do they know something they're not telling? Eventually there
seems nothing for it but to abandon any attempt at subtlety and ask Acheson
directly.
"Tim," I say, as we walk through the fog back to his car, "do you know where
the Holy Grail is?"
We stop at the kerbside to let an articulated lorry pull out. Then we cross
the road, past a Mazda dealership, towards the car park.
"No," Acheson says after a while, with a thoughtful expression. "No, I'm
afraid I don't."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1382899,00.html

by Shirin Aguiar 14/12/2004
A FORMER top cop has blamed the influence of freemasons within the police
for continuing racism in the force. The comments come as a new report found
Black and Asian cops are over-disciplined.
http://www.blink.org.uk/pdescription.asp?key=5198&grp=55&cat=163
Black officers face a double- whammy of discrimination Former Flying Squad
commander John O'Connor claimed today that freemasons still wield massive
power within high ranks and that black people, who do not join the secretive
groups, lose out in the power struggle.
Scotland Yard insider O'Connor was speaking after the launch of an inquiry
report led by retired union boss Sir Bill Morris, into Met police racism.
O'Conner told BBC London that white people who did not join the masons were
also at a disadvantage. He also criticised the Morris Inquiry, saying it's
recommendations were not hard-hitting enough to bring about lasting change.
The Morris Inquiry has confirmed the worst suspicions of the Met's black
and ethnic minority officers that they are treated far harsher than white
colleagues by their managers purely on race grounds.

damage

Ethnic minority officers face glass ceilings because the reluctance of managers
to pull them up on minor matters means a lack of constructive criticism and
support, which "will ultimately damage career progression."
Erring on the side of caution: Sir Bill Morris The report also found that
minority ethnic officers are more quickly subject to formal processes where
white officers would not be so subject or they are deprived of management
support vital to develop as a police officer.
The inquiry has asked Commission for Racial Equality, led by Trevor Phillips,
and the Independent Police Complaints Commission to launch further investigations
into discrimination.
The force has come under fire in the report from the 11-month Morris Inquiry,
which surveyed its 43,000 employees. The probe by Sir Bill was launched following
several investigations into allegations against officers from ethnic minorities.

grievances

Commissioned by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), it examined whether
ethnic minority officers were more likely to face disciplinary investigation,
and whether their grievances were less likely to be dealt with than those
of white colleagues.
The inquiry heard from black and Asian staff that they were disproportionately
more likely to have formal complaints made against them.
The inquiry also found that the MPS has not complied with the recommendations
of the Gurpal Virdi report of 2001, an embarrassment for incoming Met
Commissioner Sir Ian Blair who earlier told the inquiry: "The MPS has therefore
complied with all the recommendations of the Gurpal Virdi report."
The inquiry called on the MPA to convene a case conference on Gurpal Virdi
and the role of Commissioner Sir John Stevens.

guilty

Mr Virdi was arrested and sacked from his job after the force claimed he
had racist hate mail to himself and other officers. He was later cleared
when an employment tribunal found he had been the victim of an official witchhunt
against him.
The Morris inquiry also said that race played a part in the treatment of
Superintendent Ali Dizaei and called for a full independent review of his
case.
Dizaei, who is now borough commander in Hounslow, was the target of a £4
million investigation by his own colleagues for almost five years before
being acquitted of allegations of dishonesty last year.
Giving evidence to the inquiry in June, Dizaei said: "My eating habits were
of particular interest to my accusers. Ten statements were taken in the local
restaurants I ate at to see whether I ate halal meat.
"A four-page statement was taken from the canteen manager as to whether I
eat curry on a Thursday. Colleagues tapped his phone, involved the FBI and
planted someone in his gym who was "wired up to lead me into criminality."

'Al Capone'

The inquiry slammed the Met's directorate of professional standards (DPS),
headed by Blair, for its 'Al Capone' style of conducting discipline inquiries.
Anesta Weekes QC, part of the inquiry team, told Blink: "The culture within
the DPS was that a number of people who gave evidence spoke of the attitude
that you're guilty, so I'm going to find the evidence. Often they are not
communicating how things aregoing."
The inquiry expressed concern that there was no common understanding of diversity
within the force and that it remained "at worst a source of fear and anxiety
and at best a process of ticking boxes".
The report also warned that efforts to promote the message of diversity could
have been "counter-productive" and the force may now be experiencing a
"backlash". It warned: "This would be catastrophic. The policy is right,
it is the approach and the application which we believe needs to be reviewed."
Speaking at the launch today, Sir Bill Morris said: "This is a radical and
ground-breaking report setting out a reforming pathway to change both within
the MPS and nationally."
The 288-page document contains 37 major recommendations, including the
appointment of a new civilian post at deputy commissioner level to co-ordinate
and deliver all support services within the force."

bad habit

Sir Bill recommended changes for the police training centre at Hendon in
north London. He said: "We are concerned that the gateway to the Metropolitan
Police Service, Hendon, needs to have a greater degree of supervision and
scrutiny. A bad habit picked up at Hendon can go through the career of a
police officer."
Deputy Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said: "We accept that more needs to be
done to support officers under investigation and to provide appropriate welfare.
"To this end we are developing a package of measures specifically for this
purpose that will be delivered by a dedicated unit. I will now study the
detail of the report and consider how its conclusions and recommendations
can help us do this."
Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, commented: "There is continuing racism
in the police as there is in every other institution.
"Without a shadow of a doubt, some people have in the disciplinary structure
focused more on their colleagues who are black or Asian. This is completely
unacceptable. It is something that myself, Sir Ian Blair and others are
determined must change."
http://www.blink.org.uk/pdescription.asp?key=5198&grp=55&cat=163

November 10, 2004
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1351696,00.html
From Richard Owen in Rome
ROCCO BUTTIGLIONE, the Catholic politician and papal adviser whose views
on homosexuality and marriage cost him his job as an EU Commissioner last
month, yesterday caused further controversy by claiming that his successor
was a Freemason.
Signor Buttiglione congratulated Franco Frattini, the Foreign Minister, on
his nomination as EU Justice Commissioner, the job for which Signor Buttiglione
had been nominated by Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister.
But he went on: “I hope his hearings go well and that nobody asks him
if he is a Freemason. If they do they will only be repeating the same injustice
that was done to me.”
Signor Frattini, who has been Foreign Minister since November 2002, yesterday
held talks in Brussels with José Manuel Durão Barroso, the
new European Commission President, ahead of confirmation hearings at the
European Parliament next Monday and Tuesday. Senhor Barroso hopes his entire
Commission will be confirmed next Thursday by Euro MPs, enabling it to take
office the following Monday.
Freemasonry, which was banned under Mussolini, flourished under the Christian
Democrats in postwar Italy, and remains legal. But it is still viewed with
suspicion by the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church.
It has been a highly sensitive issue in Italy since 1981, when a secret and
illegal right-wing Masonic lodge known as P2 — Propaganda Due —
was broken up amid public scandal.
Nearly a thousand members of P2 were named, including senior figures in business,
politics, banking, journalism, the intelligence services and the military.
The scandal brought down the Christian Democrat-led Government of Arnaldo
Forlani, which had tried to keep the details secret.
Signor Frattini and Signor Berlusconi declined to comment on Signor
Buttiglione’s outburst. Lapo Pistelli, an Italian left-wing Euro MP,
said that it was a “poisoned dart. I have no idea if Frattini is a Mason
or not, but I have no doubt that, unlike Buttiglione, he will appear at his
hearing fully prepared and there will be no unpleasant surprises.”
However, Mario Borghezio, a Northern League Euro MP, said that he hoped Signor
Frattini was “independent of the occult powers which control Europe”.
Signor Frattini, 47, a parliamentary deputy for Signor Berlusconi’s
Forza Italia Party since 1996 and former head of the parliamentary commission
overseeing the intelligence services, is widely admired for his competence
and equanimity.
Last night Signor Berlusconi held a meeting of his Centre Right coalition
to discuss the nomination of Gianfranco Fini, the “post Fascist”
Deputy Prime Minister, as the new Foreign Minister. Signor Buttiglione, far
from returning to relative obscurity as Italy’s Minister for European
Affairs since his rejection by Euro MPs, has defiantly maintained a high
profile through public meetings and interviews, in which he has lambasted
the “totalitarianism” of an “over secularised and politically
correct Europe”.
Last weekend he began a campaign for a return to “traditional religious
values” in public life, and said that thousands of people all over Europe
had offered support for his campaign to inject “Christian family
values” into politics.
A survey this week showed that 61 per cent of Italians were against gay marriage.

5M IN WORLD

Freemasonry is one of the oldest secular fraternities in the world. The first
Grand Lodge was established in England in 1717. There are about 5 million
freemasons worldwide, with 300,000 in England and Wales.

In the 1930s, freemasonry was banned in Germany and Spain and many members
were jailed and killed, causing the organisation to become more secretive.

Candidates have to believe in an afterlife and a supreme being. Discussion
of religion is forbidden, as is the discussion of politics.

Members swear not to reveal secret rituals. In 1986, the rules changed so
that they no longer had to agree to have throats slit and tongues cut out
if they broke their oaths.

The Roman Catholic Church prohibits Catholics from membership.The Church
of England has expressed concern about Masonic rituals.

Charlie Holmes 18Oct04
I am writing an article , which is nearly finished, about Florence and it's
connections (all coincidence of course) with Nimrod Egypt/Babylon etc. starting
with the fact that the symbol of the city of Florence is the Fleur di Lis
which said to be the symbol of Nimrod. The Patron saint of Florence is Saint
John and so on.

The Knights of Malta are all over the shop and the head man is English (at
the moment) and we go into world wide conspiracy stuff .. But if we stick
to my local neck of the woods and Phoney Baloney's holiday on the medieval
highway to Jerusalem
So Blair stays at Cusona which is in the town boundries of San Gimignano
you should put a picture of it as it's towers look well masonic .. Modern
day Knights Templars (poggibonsi)
Alchemists (poggibonsi)
http://www.ordo-militiae-templi.org/starten.htm
Club Unesco San Gimignano (Sienese)
http://www.archeosofica.org/eng/eng.htm
Rotary Club Valdelsa
Carlo POSARELLI
Via delle Monache, 1
50050 GAMBASSI TERME (FI)
Tel. 055-2614224
http://www.comune.siena.it/clubunescosiena/main.htm

Aug 20 2004 - IC Coventry

http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=14554172&method=full&siteid=50003&headline=council-code--removes--freemasons-name_page.html
The code of conduct for Coventry City Council staff has been amended to take
out direct reference to the Freemasons and Roman Catholic societies Opus
Dei and the Catenians.
All three organisations objected to the code which said staff should declare
their membership of "non-public organisations" to their superiors.
The council's standards committee, which is chaired by a judge and includes
independent members, changed the wording of the code.
They deleted overt references to Freemasons, Opus Dei and the Catenians.
But they made it clear staff who were members of them should still declare
it, because the groups were covered by the new wording.
The new ruling reads: "You must therefore declare your membership of any
organisation whose rules or requirements of membership could be regarded
as suggesting a degree of loyalty to that organisation.
"This could arise by reason of an organisation having an obligation of secrecy
about its rules, its membership or conduct and/or a commitment of allegiance
or support to that organisation. Such organisations may or may not be charitable
concerns and they may also have a local, regional, national, or international
aspect."
The Freemasons' legal and democratic services director, Chris Hinde, said
they wanted the committee to know they considered themselves a "completely
open organisation".
He added: "You can go to the office of the Provincial Grandmaster in Edgbaston,
Birmingham, and they'll give you their yearbook on payment." Judge Brian
Farrer, chairing the meeting, asked if they had mentioned the "awful punishments"
wished upon any Freemason breaching secrets of induction and elevation to
the second, third and fourth levels, which included "being tethered and exposed
to low tide".
Mr Hinde said no. The judge went on: "The loyalty of being brothers in an
organisation where they address each other as brothers, and you say that's
not going to be of a nature which will influence them? I think it's self-evident
it's going to influence them."
http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=14554172&method=full&siteid=50003&headline=council-code--removes--freemasons-name_page.html

Tony Gosling - 19th February 2004

It appears Bilderberg is a masonic summit

The Duke of Kent is the 'Grand Master' of freemasonry's governing body, the
United Grand Lodge of England.
http://www.grandlodge-england.org/ugle/whos-who.htm
Interesting then that it is the Duke's Personal Assistant, Andrew Palmer,
that organised the Turnberry Bilderberg conference, the last one to take
place in the UK.
http://www.bilderberg.org/1998.htm#palmer
Though it has been suspected by many, the formal link between the highest
levels of freemasonry and the elitists who meet at Bilderberg is finally
out. No wonder there's such secrecy at these conferences. It could be that
Palmer is simply a highly trusted man? Or it could be that he knows how to
keep his mouth shut.
And the masonic connection shouldn't come as such a big surprise. The political
class and professions featured at Bilderberg: banking; industry; royalty;
the law; politics, are all associated with freemasonry. The chief mason's
trusted PA has been organising secret conferences of European royalty and
the heads of the Western world's oil and banking cartels. Any self-respecting
democracy would put them under investigation for criminal conspiracy, treason
at least.
Labour MP Chris Mullin's brave attempts to lance the boil of secret societies
from British Government has been substantially thwarted. Promised lists of
freemasons in the criminal justice system, a good place to start, never
materialised. But there is some good news, all freemasons in local government
are about to be forced to declare their crooked hand.
As Carl Jung said "The maintenance of secrets is like a psychic poison, which
alienates their possessor from the community." Maintainers of secrets such
as these can not take part in community life honestly. High public office
is logically impossible for a mason, yet masonry is the glaring ommission
from the register of members interests in the Lords and Commons. Without
masonic membership being required the register of members' interests is a
farce.

What rite makes a person unfit for public office?

According to those who have left 'the craft', when a freemason is being initiated
into the third degree he is struck on the forehead in the dark, knocked back
either into a coffin or onto a coffin shape. His fellow masons then lift
him up, and when he opens his eyes he is confronted with the skull and crossed
bones of a mason who 'broke his vow of secrecy'. Having willingly putting
himself under a threat of death no mason of third degree or higher can be
trusted, particularly in public office. He is hoodwinked literally and
metaphorically, alienating himself from the community.
A comedy initiate prepared
http://www.masonicteddies.co.uk/candidate.html

Freemasonry opposes God of the Bible

Apart from the satanic death's head imagery at Yale University's Skull and
Bones club (of which both U.S. presidential candidates are members - see
later in this bulletin) one of the central rites of initiation includes a
mockery of Jesus Christ's death on the cross.
In the Old Testament passover rite the sacrifice of a lamb bestowed power
on its blood to 'mark God's faithful apart'. In midrashic, messianic, harmony
Jesus was the New Testament 'lamb of God' whose death paved the way for the
sins of those who believe in Him to be 'passed over'. In the same way as
door lintels are covered in the Old Testament the Christian faithful ask
God to spiritually cover buildings and people in the blood of their savior,
Jesus Christ.
Compare this, if you can stomach it, with the masonic Grand Orient initiation
ceremony quoted by author of one investigation, John Robison:
"A candidate for reception into one of the highest orders after having heard
many threatenings denounced against all who should betray the secrets of
the order, was conducted to a place where he saw the dead bodies of several
who were said to have suffered for their treachery. He then saw his own [masonic]
brother tied hand and foot, begging his mercy and intercession. He was informed
that this person was about to suffer the punishment due for this offence,
and that it was reserved for him (the candidate) to be the instrument of
this just vengeance, and that this gave him the opportunity of manifesting
that he was completely devoted to the order.[Skull and Bones lodge at Yale,
to which Bush and Kerry, belong is known as 'the order']
"It being observed that his countenance gave the signs of inward horror (the
person in bonds imploring his mercy all the while) he was told, that in order
to spare his feelings, a bandage should be put over his eyes. A dagger was
put into his right hand, and being hoodwinked, his left hand was laid on
the palpitating heart of the criminal, and he was ordered to strike. He instantly
obeyed; and when the bandage was taken from his eyes, he saw it was a lamb
he had stabbed."[Robison, Proofs Of A Conspiracy p.299]

Puppet on the left or puppet on the right: Both U.S. presidential candidates
are Skull and Bones chums

Bush and Kerry are old pals from Yale
http://www.bilderberg.org/skulbone.htm
Can those who have been through similar rites to these be put in positions
of public trust? Are either Bush or Kerry fit to lead the most powerful nation
the world has ever seen? Where are their loyalties? This year's presidential
elections, what with the revelations over insecure voting systems and vote
fixing, look set to be a total charade. http://www.votescam.com

Illuminati: wheels within wheels

Illuminism operates within the already secret confines of outwardly respectable
freemasonry and has been doing so for over 200 years.
There are three solid critiques of Illuminism. John Robison's 'Proofs of
a Conspiracy', Abbe Barruel's 'Memoirs' and Seth Payson's 'Proof of the
Illuminati'. Initiation rites and degrees are cited and appear to be similar
to the current day Skull and Bones at Yale. Unfortunately all three books
are roughly 200 years old and one might quite reasonably question whether
this organisation still exists. The Collins dictionary is open-ended: 'A
masonic sect founded in Bavaria in 1778 claiming the illuminating power of
Christ resided in it alone.'
But I had some proof recently that Illuminism is still alive and recruiting.
A marshall arts instructor in London said he had been approached to join
a 'secret group of enlightened people' that wished to bring the world together
in harmony. His views on nationalism and religion were sought but he refused
to join saying that he didn't feel comfortable with the person trying to
recruit him, he didn't trust him.

Illuminati's raw recruits

Young men between 18 and 30 are considered the prime targets to join the
Illuminati. The pitch, in a nutshell, is that 'national governments and
monotheistic religion cause wars. They must therefore be overthrown by
clandestine means'. The promise of economic security is the carrot. Rituals
which threaten death for breaking vows of secrecy are the sticks which keep
members in line. "You can check out any time you like, but you can never
leave."
The final irony is that though you may join to 'bring an end to war' you
are not told that members of the society are the ones in key military, economic
and political positions to start the wars. The society's motto "ORDO AB CHAO"
means creating chaotic situations - such as wars - so that the society can
steer the outcome.

Some people have been telling us this for years

The way freemasonry, and within it illuminism, operates every day within
the highest echelons of western political and financial power should come
as no surprise. After all, the concept of a corrupt secret service within
an ostensibly legitimate secret service is the theme of some of the western
world's most engaging works of film and TV fiction. Len Deighton's The
Ipcress File, Robert Redford's Three Days of the Condor and even
the BBC's most popular TV series Doctor Who and the Daleks. Which
brings us right back where we started. The Doctor's creator, Terry Nation,
is said to have modelled his evil 'Daleks' on Heinrich Himmler's SS.

Blessed or blighted? Understanding freemasonry

http://www.freemasonrywatch.org/index.html
If you're new to understanding the freemasons (this is good medicine for
freemasons' families too because it's freemasonry minus the lies) you can
take a free introdutory course of three 'degrees' at the essential Freemasonry
Watch website.
http://www.freemasonrywatch.1index.html
As this knowledge is invaluable you might like to download the entire site
using offline browsing software such as Teleport.

Old style freemasonry rejects the modern

Back in the late 1700's several German masonic lodges closed, rather than
allow Illuminists to operate secretly within them. The master's closing speech
at one of these lodges, quoted by Barruel, was recorded: "Brethren and
Companions, give free vent to your sorrow; the days of innocent equality
are gone by. However holy our mysteries may have been, the lodges are now
profaned and sullied. Brethren, and companions, let your tears flow; attired
in your mourning robes attend, and let us seal up the gates of our temples,
for the profane have found means of penetrating them. They have converted
them into retreats for their impiety, into dens of conspirators. Within the
sacred walls they have planned their horrid deeds, and the ruin of nations.
Let us weep over our legions which they have seduced. Lodges that may serve
as hiding places for these conspirators must remain forever shut, both to
us and to every good citizen." Which is why it is essential that membership
of these societies is declared for anyone standing for public office.

Published: 2004/03/10 22:33:06 GMT
By Emma Simpson
BBC News, New York
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3500022.stm
An initiation ceremony at a Masonic Lodge in New York has ended in tragedy
after a man was killed during a ritual for new members.
William James was accidentally shot in the head when a lodge member used
a real gun instead of a blank pistol by mistake.
The alleged gunman, a freemason aged 74, has been charged with manslaughter.
It was supposed to have been the climax of the initiation rituals at the
Southside Masonic Lodge in Long Island.
Police said that William James was forced to sit in a chair with a gun pointed
straight at him.

Aim was to frighten

Cans were placed on a small platform around his head.
When the gun was fired another member was supposed to knock the cans off
as if they had been hit by bullets.
The aim was to frighten their new recruit.
But Albert Eid, a long-serving freemason, had two guns in his pocket, one
with blanks and one with real bullets.
He apparently pulled the wrong one, killing Mr James.
The initiation rituals and symbols of the Masons have long been shrouded
in secrecy but the grandmaster of the New York State Freemasons issued a
statement denying that guns played any role in official lodge ceremonies.
William James was apparently being sworn into a select group within his lodge
but it was a prank which went fatally wrong.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3500022.stm

Published: 2004/03/10 09:48:03 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3548433.stm
A bomb attack on a Masonic lodge in the Turkish city of Istanbul has left
one person dead and six injured.
Provincial governor Muanmer Guler said one of the bombers also died in the
attack, and the other was wounded.
They started shooting before detonating their explosives at the entrance
to the building, where 40 people were dining.
No group has admitted carrying out the attack. In November, more than 60
people died in Istanbul in a series of explosions blamed on Muslim militants.
Those blasts, carried out by suicide attackers, targeted Jewish synagogues
and British commercial and diplomatic buildings in Istanbul's European section.

Target

Tuesday's blast took place in the largely residential Asian area of the city.
The BBC's Jonny Dymond in Istanbul says security is more lax in the area.
The secretive international society of Masons is seen by radical Islamic
groups as a supporter of the policies of Israel and the United States.
Mr Guler told the Associated Press news agency the number of casualties could
have been higher, had the attackers managed to get past the entrance of the
restaurant on the ground floor of the lodge.

Militant groups

Eyewitnesses said that one of the attackers chanted an Islamic slogan before
he detonated the bomb, killing himself and a waiter.
"Everyone was panicking, everyone was asking where their friends were," one
man told AP.
The second alleged assailant was taken to hospital with abdominal injuries
and possibly a severed arm.
November's attacks in Istanbul led to the arrest of several people accused
of belonging to an Islamist militant group with ties to al-Qaeda.
Kurdish separatist militants and shadowy left-wing guerrillas are also suspected
of being active in Istanbul.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3548433.stm

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/localgovernment/story/0,9061,1122200,00.html
Helene Mulholland
Tuesday January 13, 2004
Councillors with masonic links will in future be forced to declare their
membership in order to avoid conflicts of interest in town hall decision-making.
The Standards Board for England decision potentially ends a two-year tussle
under the new code of conduct over freemasons who stand as councillors.
When the code was first introduced in April 2001, an argument erupted over
whether elected councillors should be made to reveal their freemasonry on
the register of interests.
The matter was subsequently left to local authorities, which have the powers
to strengthen the code locally. Some councils decided to introduce this
requirement, while others declined.
There are 300,000 freemasons in England and Wales, although the number of
councillors who belong to the organisation remains unknown.
The standards board has now issued guidance confirming that membership of
the Freemasons must regularly be declared under the councillors' code of
conduct, under the auspice of its charitable activities.
Under the code councillors must disclose their charity membership on the
register of interests.
The guidance was issued after the united grand lodge admitted that part of
freemasons' annual subscription fee to their lodges goes to the Freemasons'
Grand Charity, which ranks as the second biggest charity donor, second only
to the national lottery.
The standards board issued a statement which states: "Freemasons must register
membership of their freemason lodge on the register of interests and, where
appropriate, declare their membership as a personal or prejudicial interest
before, or during, council meetings."
The united grand lodge retorted by accusing the standards watchdog of singling
out its members.
UGL media manager and grand officer Chris Connop, said: "It is more a matter
of principle and the fact that we are being singled out and being targeted.
There are other organisations that are not being mentioned. You do not have
to declare the golf club you belong to, yet a lot gets decided on golf courses.
We think this is based on ignorance and prejudice and a misunderstanding
of what freemasons stand for.
"When we become freemasons, we promise we will not use our membership for
professional or financial gain. We can get thrown out for doing it."
A legal challenge had not been ruled out, he added. "This has never been
tested in court," he said. "I certainly do not think this is something we
would let rest."
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/localgovernment/story/0,9061,1122200,00.html

Sweeney producer - Ted Childs

The Sweeney is a 1970's London crime series made by Euston Films for Thames
Television - released on DVD

"The Flying Squad saw themselves as a race apart didn't they."
"Yes." [Sweeney writer: Troy Kennedy-Martin]
"They were a law unto themselves. And I think that's probably why corruption
proved to be so manifest in that organisation - partly the way they worked.
I remember talking to serving officers at that time [1974] about the portrayal
of Jack Regan, we were getting a little bit of pressure from on high. The
Metropolitan police was part of a structure then which was almost impervious
to any kind of criticism then wasn't it?"
"Yes" [Troy Kennedy-Martin]
"As a digression, there was a programme as I was listening to in the car
driving back from Ireland which was about the Race Relations Act saying at
that time when I think Callaghan brought in his first race relations act
in the sixties, a little bit ahead of when we were doing this, they had to
leave the police out of it because the police were not prepared to be told
how they should behave in terms of race relations.
I went, as we all did, to some of the do's. And there was this, I thought,
rather unhealthy alliance between 'the bar', barristers that worked at the
criminal bar, and judges and senior police officers, you know it was, to
no small extent, masonic. Certainly a freemasonry in terms of the way they
reacted and related to each other.
We did hint at that from time to time. I think we pushed it as far as we
could."

14Nov03 - All 13 members of the British Army Board are traditionally freemasons:

"...freemasonry is still strong in parts of the Army. One leading mason said
that when he joined every member of the
Army
Board was a mason - he would not say how things stood today."
p. 167, 'Inside the British Army', by Antony Beevor, Corgi books 1991, ISBN
0 552 13818 5.

The Army Council

COMMAND AND ORGANISATION

THE ARMY BOARD

http://www.armedforces.co.uk/army/listings/l0003.html
The routine management of the Army is the responsibility of The Army Board,
the composition of which is shown in the following list. (this includes
responsibility for all forms of appointments, ranking and promotion TG)

THE ARMY BOARD

The Secretary of State for Defence

Minister of State for the Armed Forces

Minister of State (Defence Procurement)

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Defence Procurement

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Veterans' Affairs

Chief of the General Staff

Second Permanent Under Secretary of State

Adjutant General

Quartermaster General

Master General of the Ordnance

Commander-in-Chief (Land Command)

Commander UK Support Command

Assistant Chief of the General Staff

Decisions made by the Army Board are acted upon by the military staff at
the various headquarters worldwide. The Chief of the General Staff is the
officer responsible for the Army's contribution to the national defence effort
and he maintains control through the commander and the staff branches of
each of these headquarters.
Each military headquarters is organised along exactly the same lines with
identical branches at each level in the chain of command.
http://www.armedforces.co.uk/army/listings/l0003.html

Investigation: By Neil Mackay, Home Affairs Editor

see
also http://www.propagandamatrix.com/blair_protection.html
LETTERS between Labour and Tory ministers and correspondence relating to
Thomas Hamilton's alleged involvement with Freemasonry are part of a batch
of more than 100 documents about the Dunblane mass murder which have been
sealed from public sight for 100 years.
The documents include a letter connected to Hamilton, which was sent by George
Robertson, currently head of Nato, to Michael Forsyth, who was then Secretary
of State for Scotland.
Until now it was thought that a 100-year public secrecy order had only been
placed on one police report into Hamilton which allegedly named high-profile
politicians and legal figures. However, a Sunday Herald investigation has
uncovered that 106 documents, which were submitted to the Dunblane inquiry
in 1996, were also placed under the 100-year rule.
The Scottish Executive has claimed the 100-year secrecy order was placed
on the Central Police report, which was drafted in 1991 five years before
the murders, to protect the identities of children named in the report. Hamilton
had allegedly abused a number of children prior to his 1996 gun attack on
Dunblane primary school in which 16 primary one children and a teacher died
before Hamilton turned his gun on himself.
However, only a handful of the documents, which the Sunday Herald has discovered
to be also subject to the 100-year rule, relate to children or name alleged
abuse victims.
The most intriguing document is listed as: 'Copy of letter from Thomas Hamilton
to Dunblane parents regarding boys' club, and flyer advertising Dunblane
Boys' Sports Club. Both sent to Rt Hon Michael Forsyth, MP, Secretary of
State for Scotland, by George Robertson MP.' Also closed under the 100-year
rule is a 'submission to Lord James Douglas Hamilton, MP, Minister of State
at the Scottish Office, concerning government evidence to the Inquiry'.
Another document relates to correspondence between the clerk of the Dunblane
inquiry, which was presided over by Lord Cullen, and a member of the public
regarding 'possible affiliations of Thomas Hamilton with Freemasonry ...
and copy letters from Thomas Hamilton'.
SNP deputy justice minister, Michael Matheson, said: 'The explanation to
date about the 100 -year rule was that it was put in place to protect the
interests of children named in the Central Police report. How can that
explanation stand when children aren't named? The 100-year rule needs to
be re-examined with respect to all documents.'
Matheson has written to the Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd, asking why the 100-year
rule applies and how it can be revoked. He has so far had no response. He
also asked First Minister Jack McConnell to explain the reasons for the 100-year
order but received 'no substantial answer'. Matheson is to write to Colin
Boyd a second time, in the light of the discovery that more than 100 other
documents are also sealed, asking him to account for the decision.
A spokeswoman for the Crown Office said: 'In consultation with the Crown
Office and the Scottish Office, Lord Cullen agreed that in line with the
age of some of the individuals involved and named in the inquiry, the closure
period would be 100 years. The Lord Advocate is considering issuing a redacted
copy of the productions, which would blank out identifying details of children
and their families. A decision on this has yet to be made.'

Other sealed key reports on Dunblane include:

A 'comparative analysis of Thomas Hamilton' by Central Scotland Police

A review by Alfred Vannet, regional procurator fiscal of Grampian, Highland
and Islands, of 'reports and information in respect of Thomas Hamilton submitted
to the procurator fiscals of Dumbarton and Stirling by Strathclyde Police
and Central Police'

A psychological report on Hamilton

Guidance from the British Medical Association on granting firearms licences

'Transcript of and correspondence relating to answering-machine tape which
accidentally recorded conversation between police officers at the scene of
the Dunblane incident'

Correspondence and witness statements 'relating to allegations of sexual
abuse made against Hamilton'

Astounding discovery: Proudhon was indeed a freemason and the international
anarchist movement seems to have made use of the continental lodges in the
C19. Woodcock (in 1960) says this was under researched.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2776409.stm
The case concerns non-payment of Skye Bridge tolls
18feb03
A Skye Bridge protester is asking judges to reopen a case presided over by
members of a "secret society".
Robbie the Pict believes there is an extensive legal membership of the
Speculative Society (Spec), an elite debating club founded in 1764.
His legal challenge relates to his conviction at Dingwall Sheriff Court in
November 1998 for failing to pay the Skye Bridge toll.
He wants his appeal, which questioned the legality of the Crown paperwork
authorising the tolls, to be reheard before judges with no connections to
the society.
It is important to stress that no conspiracy is suggested by the petitioner

Robbie the Pict

However, Advocate Depute Raymond Doherty accused him of presenting a "fanciful"
case backed by little evidence.
Robbie's petition was originally brought in December at the justiciary appeal
court.
However, it was continued because one of the judges, Lord Osborne, was a
known member of the historic society.
Robbie read from a 44-page speech when the case called before Lords Gill,
Kirkwood and Wheatley on Tuesday.
He claimed that the Speculative Society has Masonic connections.
He asked the three judges whether they were freemasons - a question they
declined to answer.

Current members

"The petitioner will argue that it is not unreasonable to suggest that membership
of a closed order with unknown preferences is a potential threat to the
impartiality of a publicly salaried judge," he told the court.
He said that this applied "in particular when brother judges and other parties
subject to judgement are members of the same sodality".
Robbie said that Sir Iain Noble, chairman of the Skye Bridge Company, and
Sir Angus Grossart, financial adviser to bridge builders the Miller Group,
were among the current members of Spec.
Three appeal judges are considering the petition
He said it was an exclusive body which "would allow the elite to self-perpetuate
at the incidental expense of the non-elite, despite their merits".
He also referred to 21 court cases which he said had been presided over by
judges who were Spec members.
"It is important to stress that no conspiracy is suggested by the petitioner,"
he said.
"However, the well, or even not so well informed observer, were he appraised
of the above, could reasonably perceive the possibility.
"The well-informed amateur of justice is appalled to contemplate the possibility
of corruption arising from... Spec presences."
He called for an independent public inquiry into the issue.
However, Mr Doherty accused Robbie of being himself, with strong feelings
concerning the Skye bridge issue.
"I would submit that the concerns advanced by him are fanciful rather than
reasonable," he said.
In its own literature the Speculative Society describes itself as a secret
brotherhood bound by intangible ties of shared loyalty and common tradition.
The present membership said it was nothing more than a light hearted debating
club.
The three judges will give their ruling at a later date. [if they get round
to it]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2776409.stm

Freemasonry: Dr Rowan Williams reveals his concerns over a secret society
he believes is incompatible with the Christian faith

http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=352254
By Jason Bennetto
15 November 2002
Freemasonry describes itself on its website as the "UK's largest secular,
fraternal, and charitable organisation". So why does the new Archbishop of
Canterbury think it is a secret society with dubious spiritual credentials?
And why does Dr Rowan Williams also believe that Church of England ministers
should not belong to the Brotherhood, an organisation he describes as
incompatible with Christianity?
His views will be greeted with astonishment by the significant number of
senior clergymen and Christians who are members of the 350,000-strong Craft,
who have organised a slick media campaign to counter bad publicity.
The Freemasons of England now have a website – www.freemasonry.net.
The United Grand Lodge of England says that it is not a "secret society",
but merely holds private meetings. "Freemasonry does not try to replace religion
or substitute for it. Freemasonry requires a belief in God and its principles
are common to many of the world's great religions," it says.
"There are elements within certain churches who misunderstand Freemasonry
and confuse secular rituals with religious liturgy."
It adds that many of its members are Anglicans and Catholics and would be
"dismayed that the churches should attack Freemasonry".
But some observers believe that at the heart of the Craft – and known
only to those who reach the highest levels – there is a sinister
quasi-religion based on a composite Masonic God, known as Jah-Bul-On.
In his 1984 book The Brotherhood, Stephen Knight turned the spotlight on
the inner workings of the Masons. "I have spoken to 57 long-standing Royal
Arch Freemasons [one of the most senior groups], who have been happy to talk
to me.All but four lost their composure when I said, 'What about Jah-Bul-On?',"
he wrote.
A spokesman for Dr Williams said yesterday that many Christians believed
that Jah-Bul-On was considered to refer to the "incarnation of Satan". He
added that the Masons promised in the 1980s to drop any reference to Jah-Bul-On
because of the offence it was causing.
In a letter to Hugh Sinclair, a man who for years has been investigating
the Brotherhood, Dr Williams said: "I have real misgivings about the
compatibility of Masonry and Christian profession." He later said he questioned
whether it was "appropriate for Christian ministers to belong to secret
organisations" and expressed "anxiety about the spiritual content of Masonry".
He also raised the issue of "back scratching" and the possible debt clergymen
may feel towards fellow members of the Craft. The relationship between Freemasons
and the Catholic and Anglican churches has been a complex and at times a
fraught one.
Dr Williams' spokesman said: "From the end of the 19th century a lot of Anglican
clergy got involved in Freemasonry. In the 20th century a number of very
senior clergymen were Masons. In the 1960s people started turning against
the idea of secret societies and a number of Anglican ministers saw it as
possibly Satanically inspired."
The influence of the Brotherhood within the Church of England has continued
and the Freemasons acknowledge that many clergymen and Anglicans are members.
Leading Mason Church of England clergymen of the past include the former
Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher, who headed the Church of England
from 1945 to 1961. He held the senior post of Grand Chaplain for the United
Grand Lodge of England.
Robert Milburn, the former Dean of Worcester, held the same senior Masonic
post as the Archbishop.
John Habgood, the former Archbishop of York, told the General Synod that
he believed Freemasonry was a "fairly harmless eccentricity" and later expressed
the view that he did not see any conflict in being a Mason and a Christian.
In July 1987 the General Synod, the governing body of the Church of England,
ducked the issue when bishops endorsed a report looking into whether being
a Christian and a Freemason were compatible.
A working party concluded that Freemasons who belonged to the church did
not think there was a problem, while non-Masons thought there were difficulties.
The issue has not been debated since.
At one stage Catholics were banned from being Freemasons, but the two are
no longer seen as incompatible providing Catholics belong to a British branch
of the Masons.
Critics believe this is partly due to the influence of members of the Brotherhood
within the Catholic church.
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=352254

Investigative Journalism Review - 1st July 2000

A leading historian has been appointed the UK's first-ever Professor of
Freemasonry in a three year research programme to investigate alleged masonic
collusion in organised crime.
Dr Andrew Prescott of the British Library has taken up the post at Sheffield
University to oversee the £250,000 project which has been funded by
the London-based United Grand Lodge of England and the Yorkshire West Riding
Province of Freemasons.
Leaders of the 300,000-strong masonic fraternity have guaranteed Dr Prescott
unrivalled access to its files, and have also instructed masonic lodges and
chapters throughout the United Kingdom to co-operate with his research. This
will include investigations into freemasonry's alleged link to corruption,
conspiracy to murder and the operation of gangland-style criminal networks.
But the move has angered a leading critic of freemasonry who claims the project
will be completely invalid unless the Brotherhood's entire membership list
is made public.

MOUNTING CRITICISM

The initiative to set-up the three year research programme came last year
when senior freemasons were alarmed at mounting criticism of the organisation's
attempts to open up to public scrutiny.
Masonic lodges around the country hold regular open days to allow the public
to visit their temples and to meet leading local freemasons. Two years ago
the province of West Kent launched a masonic roadshow to visit shopping centres
throughout the county.
The roadshow's purpose, according to an internal masonic document, is to:
"encourage the view that freemasonry is a force for good" and "to open
freemasonry to public view and show that it is not a 'secret society.'"
One of the UK's leading critics of freemasonry, however, has dismissed such
displays as no more than thinly disguised PR. He his also highly sceptical
that the Sheffield University research project will produce any substantial
results.

MEMBERSHIP LIST

Martin Short, author of Inside the Brotherhood, told the IJR: "The only document
of any significant value is the organisation's membership list."
He added: "If Dr Prescott can't publish that type of material then the entire
research programme seems an entire waste of time. We will have to wait
information he requests from the masonic leadership and what he then does
with it."
In his book, which was published in the UK in 1989, Short makes a number
of claims that freemasons have taken part in corrupt activities involving
the police, local government, the City and the security and intelligence
services.
Dr Prescott, who is not a freemason, told the IJR that he will keep an open
mind about his research over the next three years. "There are a whole range
of issues that need to be investigated, and given the tens of thousands of
documents involved, then it may take some time to establish our priorities."

WRONGDOING

But he does not rule out conducting detailed investigations into alleged
masonic wrongdoing. "If there is evidence of conspiracy or criminal involvement
then such activities will be thoroughly pursued."
This week a senior masonic official told the IJR that the controversial
organisation will co-operate with any of Dr Prescott's investigations.
John Hamill, the director of communications at the United Grand Lodge of
England, said: "We can't make our membership list available for public inspection
because we are prevented from doing so under the Data Protection Act."
But he pledged that any allegations of criminal conspiracy will be taken
seriously. "We already work closely with the Local Government Ombudsman over
allegations of corruption involving masonic councillors and council officials.
"Over the past five years the ombudsman has received some 79,000 complaints
and yet only 22 involved allegations of masonic involvement."

CORRUPTION

And he believes allegations of corruption involving Masonic police officers
is equally rare. "The Police Complaints Authority tell us that over the past
15 years they have only received 33 complaints involving allegations of masonic
corruption."
Sheffield University itself operates a masonic lodge called University of
Sheffield Lodge and which is lodge number 3911. The lodge was founded in
1918 and meets at the masonic Tapton Hall in Shore Lane four times a year.
A spokesman for Sheffield University said: "What individual members of staff
do in their own time is their own business. We have no control whatsoever
over this organisation."
Comedian and television gameshow host Jim Davidson has been appointed the
chairman of the Westminster City Council masonic lodge. Mr Davidson joined
the show business-dominated Chelsea Lodge 11 years ago. But his membership
of a lodge centred on the Tory-controlled Westminster City Council has angered
some councillors in the borough. One opposition council member said: "What
on earth is Jim Davidson's link with this council?" Council officers have
distanced themselves from the move. "The City Council does not run or have
any link with the lodge," said a spokesman. Meanwhile Mr Davidson will compere
a £100-a-head Masonic Variety Show at the London Palladium in September.
2000 Investigative Journalism Review

By Paul Lashmar

28 June 2000
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=7844
Senior police officers have defied official disapproval and established a
new Masonic lodge despite widespread public fears about the influence of
the secret society on the criminal justice system.
The police-only lodge has been set up by officers from the West Mercia force
area which covers Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire.
The West Mercia Lodge No 9719 was consecrated on 10 June in the village of
Craven Arms, near Ludlow, Shropshire, with more than 200 seniorMasons in
attendance. It is the 11th police-only lodge in Britain and the second in
the West Midlands area - the other is in Worcester.
A list of "founders and first officers" of the lodge named 34 serving and
retired officers in the lodge of the rank of chief inspector downwards. A
further 11 officers are expected to join at the next meeting, which will
take place in September.
Peter Neyroud, Assistant Chief Constable at West Mercia, confirmed that one
of the new lodge's officers wrote to him in February to inform him of the
move, but the force is clearly unhappy about it. "The constabulary would
not encourage officers to become Freemasons in view of widespread public
concerns over the need for transparency in police relationships with the
community," Mr Neyroud said.
"If, despite this, officers make the individual decision to become Freemasons,
the force would strongly encourage them to register this membership in the
existing register of individuals' interests."
There has been growing public suspicion about the grip of Freemasonry on
police officers. Following a number of scandals, in which Masonic influence
was alleged - such as the investigation into the West Midlands Serious Crime
Squad in the early Nineties - many people believe the all-male society has
malign influence over some parts of the criminal justice system. The first
worshipful master of the lodge is Chief Inspector A W Sykes, who is based
in Shrewsbury. Mr Sykes declined to comment. John Hamill, of the United Grand
Lodge, said the Masons thought Mr Nayroud's fears were "ill founded".
Police chiefs have been split over how to respond to growing pressure from
ministers and MPs for officers to declare whether they are Freemasons. The
Chief Constable of Merseyside, Norman Bettison, launched a general register
of officers' interests by writing to his force last summer stating that he
had no reason to question the integrity of Masons and he had good friends
who were members of lodges.
The Chief Constable of Norfolk, Ken Williams, has said he does not believe
membership of the Masons is compatible with being a police officer, primarily
because of the public's negative view of the society.
The Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs ran an inquiry into Freemasonry
in 1998-1999, and last year Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, announced a trial
voluntary register for police officers to declare if they were Freemasons.
Parallel steps have been taken for judges, probation officers and Crown
Prosecution Service staff.
West Mercia said the force had a register of officers' outside interests
but it was not a public document. It refused to say how many of the new lodge
had declared membership of the Masons.
A member of the select committee, Robin Corbett, Labour MP for Birmingham
Erdington, said the signs were that the voluntary register had failed. "We
now believe that a register needs to be mandatory and public," he said, adding
that the Home Office was a year overdue in responding to the committee's
report.
"We are aware we owe the committee a response which we hope to deliver shortly,"
a Home Office spokesman said. "We would consider primary legislation if the
voluntary arrangements proved to be ineffective."
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=7844

16th April 2000

"......defence lawyers might exploit an officer's membership to suggest he
or she is corrupt......" Sunday Telegraph
Perish the thought! But it's okay to imply from a defendant's silence that
he/she is lying! The old boy network is running out of arguments.............
NOTES: INITIATION OATH OF FIRST DEGREE 'ENTERED APPRENTICE' FREEMASON
"I, ...... in the presence of the Great Architect of the Universe, ......
do hereby and hereon sincerely and solemnly promise and swear, that I will
always hele, conceal and never reveal any part or parts, point or points
of the secrets or mysteries of or belonging to Free and Accepted Masons in
Masonry. ..... These several points I solemnly swear to observe, without
evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation of any kind, under no less a
penalty, on the violation of any of them, than that of having my throat cut
across, my tongue torn out by the root, and buried in the sand of the sea
at low water mark, or a cable's length from the shore....."
FROM: http://www.bilderberg.org/masons.htm#THREE

POLICE MASONS LIST WILL REMAIN SECRET

Sunday Telegraph SUNDAY 16 Apr 2000
By Joe Murphy, Political Editor
The Home Office is to block public access to a register of Freemasons within
the police service for fear of damaging confidence in the forces.
It marks a realisation among ministers that Labour's early plans to end the
Masonic culture in the judicial system is in danger of backfiring by undermining
officers who are innocent of any impropriety. Ministers will announce fresh
plans for the register of Freemasons, which is currently voluntary, next
month. They have yet to decide over calls from a Labour-dominated Commons
committee for it to be strengthened by being made compulsory for police to
declare their membership of the secretive society but will undertake that
those who do so will not be exposed to public scrutiny.
Labour MPs have long campaigned for Freemasonry to be banned in the judicial
system, believing that it fosters corruption by encouraging police and judges
to feel they are under an obligation to fellow lodge members. Freemasons,
however, insist that the society is merely a charitable and social institution,
despite its code of secrecy and rituals.
A Home Office official said: "We are not backing away from the need to establish
just how widespread Masonic activity is within the forces but it is a question
of how to do it. It will not help if police are deterred from being open
about their membership because they think it would be raised in trials or
disciplinary hearings. There is a case for public access to the register
as a gesture of open government but this is outweighed by the risk that defence
lawyers might exploit an officer's membership to suggest he or she is corrupt."
Earlier this month, Britain's most senior Masonic judge attacked the Government's
investigations into Freemasonry. Lord Millett, a sitting law lord, accused
a parliamentary inquiry of having "absolutely no basis" and being "oppressive".
He said it had led to defendants demanding to know whether judges hearing
their cases and police officers giving evidence against them were Masons.
About 20 per cent of judges have refused to reply to a questionnaire issued
by Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, asking if they are Freemasons. The voluntary
register for police has fared even worse, with only 38,875 of the 126,000
officers in England and Wales responding, of whom just 417 admitted to being
Freemasons. There are an estimated 8,000 Masonic lodges in Britain.
Other Telegraph articles:
27 October 1999: Prescott overturns ban on freemasons
17 June 1999: Freemasonry in Forces faces curb
26 May 1999: Freemasons in police are cleared of corruption
11 November 1998: Only 5pc of judges say they are Masons
25 July 1998: Judges asked to declare whether they are Masons
14 April 1998: Judge attacks registration of Freemasons
12 March 1998: MPs seek more facts from the masons
18 February 1998: Judges must declare masonic link
25 November 1997: Straw U-turn over masons
26 March 1997: MPs call for register of freemasons in judiciary
28 February 1997: Police masons list 'unjust'
23 January 1997: Call for count of freemason judges
25 October 1996: Police chiefs call for a register of freemasons

Noye given life for road rage murder on M25

BRASH and bullish, Kenneth Noye liked to give the impression that he was
smarter and tougher than anyone else. He was arrogant, too, entertaining
fellow prisoners while on remand at Belmarsh jail by boasting of the guests
he would invite to a party on his acquittal.
Police believe he was just the man to fight, from anger or pride, someone
who complained about his driving. He was the kind of man who, when losing
a fair fight, would use any means, including a knife, to save face. Noye
was notorious for driving his high-powered cars at near suicidal speeds.
To pursue him was "virtually impossible", said one officer who investigated
a suspected plan for cocaine importation by Noye in the early Nineties. "He
would drive at 100mph or more. At times you just couldn't stay with him.
It was too dangerous."
Spanish officers sent to arrest him on behalf of Kent police in August 1998
faced the same difficulty. On his way to one assignation with a young woman
Noye drove a Jeep at 100mph along a treacherous road towards Barbate, near
Cadiz in southern Spain. One police car was left behind, another skidded
and a third failed to negotiate the slip road Noye suddenly took.
He was just the kind of driver to decide, in an instant, to take the M20
slip road off the M25 and swerve his powerful Land Rover Discovery towards
it at breakneck speed, cutting up the slower Bedford Rascal van driven by
Danielle Cable. Noye typified a new breed of entrepreneurial and international
British criminal. It had evolved from the local gangs - such as that led
by the Kray twins - whose interests lay in clubs and protection rackets.
In the Seventies and early Eighties, Noye was a working-class man on the
make. The son of a Post Office manager and a greyhound track manageress,
he grew up in Bexleyheath, a suburb in Kent where many had moved from the
rundown dockland areas along the Thames. Short, stocky and with a broken
nose acquired when he fell from a tree as a child, he left school at 15 and
studied commercial art at printing college.
As an apprentice printer in Fleet Street, he spent his cash on smart clothes
and the many women he chased. But he was ambitious. Working night shifts
allowed him to take a daytime job driving a tipper truck. And when he married
his loyal wife Brenda, he decided to set up his own haulage business. He
branched out into property. One deal secured him £300,000 which he invested
in mobile homes in America. He began cultivating criminal contacts.
Noye was eager to embark on money-making deals. He began trading in jewellery,
particularly watches. He tried his hand at building. He even renovated a
sunken boat raised from the Mediterranean, an enterprise that earned him
£40,000. By his late twenties, he was a millionaire. He moved with Brenda
into Hollywood Cottage, a mock-Tudor building in acres of woodland, with
orchard and swimming pool, at West Kingsdown, Kent. Here Brenda raised their
two sons. A cottage that had occupied the site had burnt down in mysterious
circumstances.
By now the distinction between legal and illegal business was becoming blurred
as Noye diversified into illicit gold dealing and VAT evasion. He was mixing
with financiers, and it was not long before his eyes were opened to the potential
of offshore banking and money laundering. He had a cluster of convictions.
Most were for shoplifting or receiving stolen cars and property in his youth.
But he had also assaulted a police officer and been caught smuggling a pistol
from Miami. Beneath the veneer of the successful entrepreneur lay a thug.
Neighbours, wary of his notorious temper, tried not to cross him. Once he
emptied a shotgun into a pub ceiling just to settle a bar room argument,
it was whispered.
However, anxious that his standing as a successful businessman should impress,
Noye began befriending local politicians, county dignitaries and magistrates.
He joined the Freemasons. He also began to cultivate police, informing on
his rivals. During his trial in 1985 for the murder of Det Con John Fordham
- of which he was acquitted - evidence emerged that Noye had told the officer
in charge of the Brink's-Mat robbery investigation, Brian Boyce, to ring
a fellow officer named Ray Adams.
Adams, Noye had suggested, would say he was "not a violent man or a killer".
Mr Adams, who later became a commander of Scotland Yard's intelligence branch,
is understood to have been one of Noye's police handlers. There is no evidence
of impropriety on the part of his official police handlers but Noye has long
been suspected of forging corrupt relationships with other officers he met,
particularly through his Masonic links.
An illustration of his attitude to detectives came when he offered Det Chief
Supt Boyce a £1 million bribe if he ensured Noye escaped prison. Mr
Boyce rejected the offer. By January 1985, a Scotland Yard team hunting the
three tons of gold taken in the 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery - Britain's biggest
proved raid - knew the bullion was being sold back on to the legitimate market.
It traced the chain back to Noye and hoped he would lead to the gold.
It was known that Noye kept shotguns but this was not considered a danger.
Police thought they were part of the haulier-turned-country squire image
he cultivated. His rottweiler dogs presented a greater threat to Det Con
Fordham, the experienced undercover officer who, with a colleague, Neil Murphy,
was sent into the grounds of Hollywood Cottage to monitor activity. Only
Noye knows truly what happened when first his dogs and then he, armed with
a kitchen knife, confronted the balaclava-clad Fordham.
Noye was to admit stabbing the officer to death but claimed that he acted
in self-defence as he feared for his life. Later that year an Old Bailey
jury accepted this defence. In 1986 Noye was convicted of handling the bullion
and jailed for 14 years. He contained his arrogance in the murder trial,
but in the second case reverted to type. He told a convoluted tale of dealing
in smuggled gold and appeared contemptuous of the Crown's attempts to prove
that he had handled the stolen bullion. His arrogance backfired and the jury
did not believe him.
In a moment to be contrasted with his tears in the M25 trial - as a disabled
witness told the court of his kindness and generosity - Noye snarled at the
jurors who convicted him: "I hope you all die of cancer." Of the three tons
of virtually pure Brink's-Mat bullion - worth £26 million - police recovered
only scraps. About half went through Noye's hands, creating a flood of cash
which was invested in London's burgeoning Docklands developments.
The Brink's-Mat inquiry took Yard officers to America and around the world,
providing conclusive proof for the first time that a new generation of British
criminals such as Noye had forged international liaisons. As a police killer
and the handler of the Brink's-Mat gold, Noye enjoyed considerable status
among the inmates of high-security wings in jails around the country.
Noye had no drugs convictions before the Brink's-Mat case. But he appears
to have developed a taste for trafficking while in prison. Between 1992 and
1993 he was drawing towards his release and was allowed out on day release
from Latchmere House, an open jail in Surrey. The aim was to allow him to
rehabilitate himself in the community. Noye, ostensibly, found a job with
a skip hire firm in Kent. In reality, he spent his time with a long-time
associate, planning, it was suspected, to import cocaine from Colombia via
Florida to Britain.
His activities attracted the attention of the United States authorities and
the regional crime squad in south-east England. But their six-month operation
was destroyed by a corrupt police officer, John Donald, who offered through
another criminal to supply Noye and his associate with details of the
investigation. The approach was sufficient to alert Noye, who abandoned the
suspected cocaine plot. Donald was jailed for 11 years.
Noye was released in 1994 and, despite being forced to pay £3 million
following civil action by the loss adjusters for Brink's-Mat's insurers,
never seemed to be short of cash. In the civil agreement, Kenneth and Brenda
Noye were allowed to buy a new house in Sevenoaks, Kent, close to the police
station.
He owned vehicles in false names and is believed to have lavished money on
at least one mistress and, according to police sources, call girls. At least
one holiday was spent in Northern Cyprus at the Jasmine Court hotel where
Asil Nadir, the fugitive Polly Peck chief, was based. An indication of Noye's
activities in this period came in 1996 when several men involved in an audacious
plot to steal up to £800 million from high street cash machines were
convicted.
One of the ringleaders was John Lloyd. Lloyd, 62, and nicknamed "Little Legs",
was long suspected of involvement in the Brink's-Mat gang and had paid £5
million to the loss adjusters. His girlfriend, Jean Savage, was jailed for
laundering cash from Noye's handling operation. Lloyd and Savage had lived
in a cottage in West Kingsdown they bought from Noye. The case, centring
on an attempt to create counterfeit cards, relied on the evidence of an informer,
Martin Grant. Grant maintained that Noye had been involved in the preparation
of the plot but he was never prosecuted.

Road rage fiancée fears Noye revenge

New identity for witness with £1m price on her head
www.guardian.co.uk
Jamie Wilson
Monday April 17, 2000
The former fiancée of the man murdered by Kenneth Noye in the M25
road rage attack has spoken of her fear of an assassination attempt ordered
by the gangster, after police warned her of a £1m price on her head.
Danielle Cable, who was with Stephen Cameron when Noye stabbed him to death
at an interchange near Swanley, Kent, in May 1996, has been living under
a new identity under the witness protection scheme since she helped police
to identify Noye in 1998.
Speaking publicly for the first time since Noye was sentenced to life
imprisonment at the Old Bailey last week, Ms Cable, 23, said she lived in
constant fear of her life. "I have to live from day to day wondering if I'm
being watched or followed. I will always live in fear of Kenny Noye and what
he could do to me if he ever found out where I lived."
Two years after Mr Cameron's murder, detectives flew Ms Cable to southern
Spain to identify the man suspected of killing her fiancé. She told
the Mail on Sunday of spotting Noye in a restaurant: "There were lots of
people, and I was shaking. I saw him straight away. I just looked at him.
I felt hatred. My stomach was churning and my heart was pounding. I felt
I wanted to say something, but no words would have come out anyway."
Two weeks after she returned, police told her to go on holiday for her safety.
"I never went back home. I haven't been back since."
In her new life she often wears a wig to disguise herself and will be
photographed only in silhouette. "I have lost twice - Stephen and my old
life," she said. "I haven't seen two of my brothers since I was relocated,
and I didn't see my mother for four months."
Ms Cable is planning to marry a soldier who has helped her to recover from
witnessing the stabbing. "I always said I would never love anybody again.
But I met someone, and although I love him in a different way he is brilliant."
Scotland Yard yesterday refused to comment on reports that Noye, 52, is being
investigated in connection with a string of gangland murders.
According to the reports, detectives believe that the south London car dealer
John Marshall, found shot dead in his Range Rover a few days after Noye fled
to Spain, may have been killed on his orders.
Marshall is believed to have supplied Noye with false number plates and papers
for the Land Rover he was driving when he killed Mr Cameron. Noye is said
to have ordered Marshall's murder before he could be questioned by police.
Noye has also been linked to the shooting of Daniel Roff, found dead in his
car outside his house in Bromley, Kent, in March 1997. Roff was suspected
of being involved in the murder of Noye's close friend, the great train robber
Charlie Wilson.

By Kim Sengupta and Paul Lashmar

14 April 2000
KENNETH Noye believed there was a price for everyone and he bought police
officers and public officials to provide him with the protection he needed
to mask his criminal activities.
Detectives untangling his network of corruption now believe that at least
one prominent MP was in his pay.
Such was the apprehension and nervousness created by the extent of Noye's
corruption of the police that during the investigation into Stephen Cameron's
murder officers were given around-the-clock protection from their colleagues.
Others changed their telephone numbers. The Noye file on the case was restricted
to less than a dozen senior officers.
With his lower-middle class background, Noye did not come from a traditional
gangster family and he did not have the pathological hatred some felt for
the police. From early in his criminal career he was prepared to do deals
with officers, offering bribes and information on fellow villains. Noye's
big opportunity to fraternise with corrupt officers came when he was arrested
by Scotland Yard in 1977 for receiving stolen goods.
The underworld was becoming wary of Noye. John 'Little Legs' Lloyd, a well
known east London gangster, was warned about him by south London villains,
others received similar messages.
In the late 70s Noye joined the Hammersmith Freemasons' Lodge in west London.
He was proposed and seconded by two police officers. He eventually rose to
be the master of the lodge with the support of the membership of which the
police made up a sizeable proportion. Other masons included dealers in gold
and other precious metals. A little while later Noye was being helped out
of an arrest by a detective who was a fellow mason.
One of Noye's police contacts was prepared to intervene on his behalf not
just with fellow officers, but other law agencies. The detective approached
a Customs officer investigating Noye in the early 80s and pressurised him
to " lay off". The Customs man, at first surprised and then angry, warned
that if the conversation went any further, he would have to officially report
it.
When customs had arrested Noye, he was quick to offer information on fellow
criminals engaged in cannabis smuggling. He also claimed that guns with major
firepower were being imported into the country and offered to get a crate
of Uzi sub machine guns. Customs passed the information on to the police
but they refused to get involved on the curious grounds that they did not
believe British criminals had access to automatic weapons.
But the police themselves were increasingly worried about Noye's connections.
The Independent has seen documents which shows that Noye " has an association
with an MP by the name of S---. They have been seen at Windsor Works ( a
business owned by Noye) and it is alleged they have a business association."
The informer who providing the information, said the document, " further
states that a Metropolitan Police officer was a frequent visitor to the Windsor
Works and Noye took him abroad to the Continent."
The extent of police concern about Noye's connections was apparent when he
became a prime suspect for the laundering of £26 million in bullion
from the Brinks Mat robbery. While carrying out surveillance of Noye's home,
an undercover officer, DC John Fordham, was stabbed to death by Noye.
Mr Fordham's partner, DC Neil Murphy, who was was present at the killing,
told The Independent " There was enormous worry about leaks right from the
start. I remember before the briefings took place the room was electronically
swept for bugs - this, mind, a room in a top security police station. The
name of a senior officer kept cropping up as someone being close to Noye.
"The other thing that stands out in my mind is how little we knew about Noye.
This man was obviously a top level launderer, yet he had managed avoid much
scrutiny. "
Noye was acquitted of DC Fordham's murder after pleading self-defence. But
his contacts could not save him a 14 year sentence at a subsequent trial
for laundering the bullion.
While in prison, Noye kept in touch with his police contacts and this paid
off for his comeback in the crime business. While still a prisoner at a "
halfway house", he became involved in a £50,000 deal to import cocaine
from the US involving the Miami mafia.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency received intelligence about the plot, but
a sting operation failed when Noye suddenly pulled out of the deal. He had
been warned off by a corrupt detective on the National Crime Intelligence
Service, John Donald, who had been corrupted by an associate of Noye's, Micky
Lawson.
Donald eventually went to prison. Commander Roy Clark, one of his senior
officers, said: " Donald was more than corrupt, he committed acts of treachery
beyond belief. He sold operational secrets to those involved in organised
crime and put the lives of police officers at risk."
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=7223

A tale against corruption in Greenwich involving a solicitor

An astonishing tale of one woman's battle against corruption in Greenwich
council involving a struck-off solicitor convicted for fraud points directly
to a conspiracy amongst prominent freemasons to wrongfully repossess council
properties and throw the rightful owners onto the streets.

Car accident victim Mrs. Riley and her daughter and parents were very happy
to take advantage of the Tory right-to-buy policy and bought their council
house in Greenwich, let the house to tenants, and moved to Lincolnshire.
At this stage all the proceedings were handled by local solicitors Hudgell
and Co.
Some time later they were horrified to be notified that the tenants had been
evicted and the house repossessed by the assistant borough solicitor Leslie
Oldman. He had manipulated the order after it was found that Hudgell and
Co. had failed to pay the ground rent of a tiny part of the property - amounting
to a mere £20.66.
Angry and confused Mrs, Riley, still confined to a wheelchair, began to look
into just what had gone on. When she did so she became more and more suspicious,
bogged down in what she soon realised was a huge and complicated conspiracy
to con her out of her property. She is still fighting on every front- At
this moment the family are suing: The London Borough of Greenwich, Hudgell
and partners, Solicitors Bridge McFarland, John Smith, and Green D'Sa, John
Cartwright, former SDP MP; Circuit Judge John Adams, the Chief Clerk of Woolwich
County Court, and the chairman of Greenwich housing committee, Peter Challis.

Masons All

They soon found out, by acquiring a copy of the Lincolnshire Freemason's
handbook, that all the solicitors they had used (and as time went by they
used most firms in Lincs.) were listed as Masons. More important they were
able to expose Leslie Oldman architect of the whole devious scheme. With
a mixture of delight and consternation they proved he had been struck off
as a solicitor ten years before for sustained forgery and misuse of his client
funds - a heinous crime for any solicitor. Yet he was still signing his name
as "Assistant Borough Solicitor". They brought this to the attention of just
about everyone, but Oldman is still employed by the council.
Mrs. Riley is now convinced that a regular racket has been taking place in
Greenwich for a number of years. It goes like this: A family buys its council
house, but solicitors acting for them fail to pay a paltry sum and Oldman
is able to step in and repossess. The house is then sold for a song and the
partners collect the difference. This time, however, they hadn't realised
Mrs. Riley' tenacity.

Little Shit

When we contacted Oldman he was abusive and he tried to bluff and blunder
his way through an explanation. He agreed to meet us, then put it off. He
finally ended all conversation saying: "You're a little shit" and hung up,
he could not deny, however, that he had a criminal conviction and had been
struck off. "I'm retiring soon, so it won't matter," he boasted.
Meanwhile, Mrs Riley began looking into Hudgell and Co. She found that it
was a partner in the firm, Nicholas Worden Hart, working from their Woolwich
branch who had failed to pay the £20.66 and that another partner, Anthony
Jepson, was a former colleague of Oldman's at Greenwich.

The Pearly King

One of the men Oldman has been dealing with consistently during his years
as "assistant solicitors" is a Greenwich wheeler-dealer called Danny Dalton.
Dalton invented a nice little scam which was to cost several families dear.
He persuaded them they needed help in getting the best deal on the 'right-to-buy'
policy. He would pay them £15,000 and they would pay him rent while
he arranged mortgages for them, then, quite suddenly, they would be evicted.
This happened to, among many others, the pearly king of St. Pancras, Alf
Dole. His deal with Dalton was done in the latter's large Shooter's Hill
property. The money was duly paid over, but only weeks later an eviction
order was sought successfully and police broke down Dole's door to help throw
him out. Dole is joining Mrs, Riley's campaign to expose Oldman, who has
remained a kingpin in all the right-to-buy transactions.

Denials

The only person able to talk to us at the council itself was the press officer
Julian Scholar who proved extremely evasive. At first he denied ever hearing
of Dalton, but later admitted there had been a police inquiry into Dalton's
connection with the council. However, he refused to supply the name of the
investigating officer. The police were equally uncooperative claiming that
it was too time consuming to go back over the files. As usual in such inquiries
the long arm of the Masonic handshake had quickly quashed any inquiry.
Meanwhile, Mrs Riley fights on, while with the full knowledge of Greenwich
council, a convicted fraudster continues to operate his dirty deals.

An investigation by BBC Southern Eye has found that freemasons in local
government do not always declare their interests.

The programme has discovered that there are at least 14 councillors with
masonic connections in Dorset. Twelve of those are involved in the planning
process.
According to the local government code of conduct, councillors should always
declare an interest if a freemason from their lodge submits a planning
application.
Southern Eye show how four of the councillors failed to follow the code.
Derek Burt has been on the planning committee at East Dorset District Council
for 34 years and for the past 20 of those he has been in the same masonic
lodge as the developer Harry J Palmer. He did not declare this interest when
he considered planning applications from Mr Palmer's company to build in
Corfe Mullen and Wimborne.
Mr Burt is one of three freemasons on the 15-strong planning committee and
there is no suggestion that he improperly influenced the decisions.
But according to the local government code of conduct, he should have left
the meetings while the applications were being discussed.
There are also masonic councillors on West Dorset District Council. Terry
Farmer has been in Sherborne lodge since 1985, but he did not declare this
interest when three different members of his lodge submitted planning
applications.
Mr Farmer tells Southern Eye that none of the applicants were personal friends:
"All the lodge members don't go to the lodge. Some people like me are not
frequent attenders because they have other commitments in public life. I
don't think in practice you could keep to the rules."
The Local Government Ombudsman, Jerry White, cannot comment on individual
cases. But he insists it is vital that councillors do keep to the rules.
He says: "This is after all a secret society. It works on secret signs, secret
codes of language, meetings are held behind closed doors, and many people
are suspicious that masons are there to further the ends of other masons.
Well that’s a suspicion that really can't be allowed to visit local
government."
Two years ago, the Government announced it was setting up a register of
freemasons in the criminal justice system, but at the moment it is only
voluntary. Southern Eye considers whether a compulsory register of freemasons
working in public life is necessary.
southern.eye@bbc.co.uk

Some facts relating to recent UK government investigation of the Freemasons.

Masons have misled parliament when asked to supply details of their members'
identities. Daniel James, the secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England,
the governing body of most UK freemasons, wrote to the Lord Chancellor saying
that the society did not keep records of its members' professions. And the
Grand Lodge also told Parliament that it had no means of identifying members
who hold judicial office. That, however is nonsense. The application form
for the United Grand Lodge of England contains a space for the applicant's
'Profession/Occupation/Trade/Rank' with a footnote that reads as follows,
'a precise definition of occupation or former occupation if retired is
essential'. It would thus be a relatively simple matter to supply the information
requested by parliament.
The Grand Lodge of England only administers Craft and Royal Arch Masonry
in the UK. There are at least four other Masonic governing bodies. On top
of that there are irregular so-called black lodges, which have no overall
governing body.
The Mark Masons and the Royal Ark Mariners' degrees are administered from
the Mark Masons hall in St. James' Street, right across the road from Prince
Charles' London residence, St. James' Palace. Prince Charles has refused
to join the freemasons, much to their annoyance.
Then there is the Order of the Secret Monitor, The Red Cross of Constantine,
and the mysteriously named Operatives. It is these orders that contain the
'cream' of Masonry in the UK. Subscribers to these additional degrees are
the real fanatics.
The government measures have not been a complete failure. Compulsory Masonic
declaration will soon be a condition for all new appointments to the Bench.
Last summer, Avon and Somerset Police set up a voluntary register for officers
to sign if they are Freemasons. And, in September, the Chief Constable of
Lancashire Police ordered a top level investigation into the influence of
Freemasons within her force.
A report into a corruption scandal on the Isle of Anglesey recommended that
members of the local council disclose in the council's register of interests
whether they are freemasons. Dorset County Council has also decided that
Freemasons should be added to the lists of council members' interests. Similar
moves are being contemplated by Essex County Council. Members of the new
Welsh Assembly will also have to declare if they are Freemasons.
Yet, despite all this, there have been no firm moves to make Members of the
House of Commons and House of Lords disclose whether they are Freemasons.
Many members of the House of Lords are active Masons and some regularly take
paid for trips abroad on Masonic business (see box on previous page). Not
surprisingly, none of these trips is declared in the House of Lords'
discretionary register of interests. MPs, too, have been less than forthcoming
about the Masons in their midst.
As far as we are aware, only one MP, Tony Baldry, has outed himself as a
Freemason. Baldry, whose Masonic title is Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies,
made a speech last May suggesting that the government's proposals on Freemasonry
were comparable to the persecution of Freemasons under the Nazis. He also
pointed out that most golf and private clubs do not disclose their membership
lists.
Many Lords are active Freemasons. According to House of Lords guidelines,
peers have discretion over whether to disclose their interests if they consider
that the interests may affect the public perception of the way in which they
discharge their parliamentary duties. [whatever that might mean] One might
argue that being a Freemason may well affect that public perception.
The Grand Lodge of all England has close ties to the Grand Lodges of Scotland,
Ireland, Northern Europe, and some American Grand Lodges. It also has directly
affiliated lodges around the world. There's even one in Kathmandu. Nepal.

The following Lords have represented the Grand Lodge of England on trips
abroad that they have not declared - and strictly speaking do not have to
declare - in the Lords' register:

THE EARL OF EGLINTON & WlNTON
City. Aged 59. Conservative. Represents Scotland and Ireland at Grand Lodge.
Visits to Norway in 1991. France and Scotland in 1995.
LORD BARNARD
Landowner. Aged 75. Cross-bencher. Represents Turkey at Grand Lodge. Visits
to Turkey in 1994 and 1997.
LORD CORNWALLIS
OBE, Farmer. Aged 77. Cross-bencher. Grand Steward. Represents the Netherlands
and Belgium at the Grand Lodge. Visits to Belgium in 1993 and 1996.
LORD FARNHAM
Irish Peer. Aged 67. Pro Grand Master. Member of Royal Arch Chapter.
Representative of Ireland. Visits to France and Ireland in 1992, Denmark
1993 and 1997, Portugal 1995, and Scotland in 1998.
LORD LANE OF HORSELL
Aged 73. Former partner of City accountants BDO Binder Hamlyn. Former chairman
of National Union of Conservative Associations. At the forefront of plans
to restructure the way that the Grand Lodge is administered. Visit to France
in 1991 on Masonic business. Honorary member of Manor of Saint James Lodge.
THE MARQUESS OF NORTHAMPTON
Aged 52. Landowner. Assistant Grand Master. Representative of Italy. Visits
to France in 1993, Italy and Greece in 1996.
EARL CADOGAN
Deceased. Was Conservative. Son is Viscount Chelsea. Formerly President of
the Masonic Trust for Boys and Girls. Member of the Board of General Purposes.
Chairman of Finance Committee, Member of the Premises and Staff Committees.
Represented Luxembourg.
VISCOUNT CHELSEA
Aged 61, son of Earl of Cadogan. 'Visit to France in 1990.
LORD CHELSEA
Visit to Luxembourg 1996, Ireland in 1997.
OTHER LORDS WHO ARE MASONS:
Lord Burnham, Provincial Grand Master for Buckinghamshire. Earl of Darnley,
Senior Grand Deacon. Lord Swansea, Provincial Grand Master for South Wales,
Eastern Division. Lord Churston, Junior Grand Warden. The Earl of Shannon,
Provincial Grand Master Surrey. Lord Gray, member of the Grand Lodge's External
Relations and Premises Committees.

Exposure of masonic councillors

How could I find out which members of my local council are freemasons?
The first route is to obtain a copy of the Masonic Yearbook (available for
£12, inc p&p, from Freemasons Hall, Great Queen Street, London WC2B
5AZ). This is an encyclopaedia of the masonic fraternity's nationwide structure
and contains a who's who of hundreds of leading freemasons. Check this list
as a starting point.
Each area also has a listing of all its masonic lodges and chapters, indeed,
the yearbook reveals that, for the questioner's address, a borough of Greenwich
Lodge - number 2332 - was founded in 1888. It undoubtably serves as a lodge
for both masonic councillors and council officers in Greenwich. The masonic
yearbook reveals that this lodge holds its annual inaugural meeting at
Freemason's Hall in Covent Garden on the third Saturday each December - this
year Saturday 20th. Simply turn up on the day and watch your local masonic
councillors arrive for the event!
Alternatively, a foolproof method of identifying masonic councillors is to
ask a friendly non-mason councillor to table a motion at the next full council
meeting proposing that the council should set up its own voluntary register
of freemasons. Whether or not the motion is carried, under local government
regulations, all councillors who are freemasons will have to declare an interest
before the matter is debated, and thus reveal their status. David Northmore
London WC2
When I was a Labour councillor in Greenwich in the eighties, we adopted a
policy of councillors declaring membership of masonic lodges and other
associations in the register of members' interests. As a Greenwich resident,
the questioner should contact the Town Hall and ask about relevant entries.
This move was part of a wider debate about masonic influence, including their
use of community buildings.
During a discussion on this issue, a senior officer sought to explain that
he believed the "modern" masonic movement was open to all. A formidable Tory
lady then asked: "I assume you mean all men?" The hapless officer said he
understood there were now ladies' lodges. In a comment that managed to offend
both sides of the argument, a junior officer then asked if they were called
the masonettes. Ron Robinson Greenwich, London SE10
Notes and Queries appears in The Guardian newspaper and has
its own website

http://archive.thisislancashire.co.uk/1995/10/27/864564.html
From the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, first published Friday 27th Oct 1995.
TWO men who were the alleged victims of a Masonic conspiracy could soon have
a book written about their 'eight-year nightmare.'
Leicester businessmen Sid and Shaun Callis received a substantial out-of-court
settlement from Lancashire Police and other parties last week after a lengthy
damages claim.
The two men sued after being wrongly accused of assaulting off-duty police
officers, after mistakenly walking into a Masonic Boxing Night at Blackburn's
Moat House Hotel, in April, 1988.
Now, renowned author Martin Short, acclaimed for his investigations into
the secret world of Freemasonry, has asked to speak to the men.
Mr Short became famous in 1989 when his book 'Inside The Brotherhood' highlighted
the involvement of Masons in a number of controversial incidents.
The sacking of Greater Manchester Deputy Chief Constable John Stalker and
several alleged police conspiracies were among the cases it featured. Sid
and Shaun Callis were charged with assault after the incident at Blackburn.
But they were dramatically cleared by a jury at Lancaster Crown Court the
following year, after claiming that it was they who had been assaulted.
The trial judge said that if the men were not guilty, then they had been
the victims of a conspiracy.
A spokesman for the Callis' confirmed today: "The author Martin Short, has
been in touch with them for quite some time and contacted them again after
their legal action was completed.
"He is due to meet them later this week."
http://archive.thisislancashire.co.uk/1995/10/27/864564.html

Extracted from
The Brotherhood, the secret world of the freemasons
By Stephen Knight
1984

CHAPTER 25 - The Devil in Disguise?

Enemies of the Brotherhood have been denouncing its rituals as devil worship
for more than 250 years. One of my purposes was to discover if these
denunciations were true or false. Another was to try to resolve, by taking
an entirely new approach, the continuing problem of whether or not Masonry
was compatible with Christianity.
For the average reader, the difficulty of overcoming any religious objections
to Freemasonry is increased rather than lessened by the very abundance of
printed matter on the subject. Much of the vast literature of Masonry is
devoted to religious issues. The problem is further aggravated by the extreme
unreliability of a large portion of this bibliography, wherein scurrilous
tirade frequently masquerades as learned treatise.
Almost everything written so far on Freemasonry and religion has fallen into
one of two categories: arguments attacking Masonry by non- or anti-Masons,
and arguments defending Masonry by committed Masons. There is virtually nothing
from neutral outsiders. This, then, would be my approach: as a neutral
investigator holding no brief for Christianity and no automatic aversion
to devil worship. For the purposes of the investigation, I would suspend
moral judgement, admit no good, bad, right or wrong because these could only
confuse the issue further. The questions were: Is Freemasonry compatible
with Christianity? and, Is masonic ritual, or any element of it, diabolism?
By sticking to these and looking unemotionally at facts, both questions were
surely capable of a yes or no answer. The reader could then make his or her
own moral judgements.
Another part of my 'new approach' was to avoid the sophisticated theological
arguments which have inevitably entered - in fact dominated - the debate.
In fact the answers can be arrived at simply and on strictly logical grounds.
One does not have to be a theologian - nor even a Freemason or a Christian
- to recognize that Christians and Freemasons would have to worship the same
God for the two to be compatible. The question simply, then, is do they?
If Freemasonry were found, despite its protestations to the contrary, to
be a quasi-religion and to have a different god from the Christian god, then
the two would naturally be incompatible.
It has been said that these issues are of no concern to Freemasons, but hundreds
of members of the Brotherhood have spoken to me of the turmoil they
experience in attempting to reconcile their religious views with the demands
of masonic ritual. It is of obvious importance to a section of those interested
in Freemasonry, whether they be initiates or among the ranks of the 'profane',
to attempt to find some answers which can be understood without profound
religious knowledge.
First, then, is Freemasonry a religion?
The Rev Saul Amias takes the official masonic line in saying that Freemasonry
is neither a religion nor a substitute for religion.
'There are Christians, there are Moslems, there are members of every
religion in Freemasonry,' he told me. 'Catholics are not allowed by their
own church to become masons, although some do come in. There's nothing
incompatible with my religion as a Jew, as an orthodox Jew, in Freemasonry,
nothing at all. It is not a religion.'
Other Masons told me that Freemasonry is no more a religion than are Rotary
Clubs or tennis clubs. Amias agreed with this.
'But,' I objected, 'the Rotary Club and the tennis club do not meet in such
solemn environs. You have a masonic temple. You have an altar.
You kneel before your deity, the Great Architect. You swear
oaths on your Volume of Sacred Law - the Bible, the Koran, whateyer
is deemed most appropriate. All these are surely religious trappings?'
He replied, 'Agreed. But these are to enhance the individual Mason's
belief in his God. Vouchsafe Thine Aid, Almighty Father, Supreme Governor
of the Universe, to our present convention, and grant that this candidate
for Freemasonry may so be endowed. . . and so on. This is a prayer to
the Almighty that is said by the chaplain, in the case of my Lodge,
by myself. A prayer to Almighty God in whom Jews and Christians believe.
This is to enhance it, to encourage it. But we do not pray and worship to
a masonic God. There is no idol.'
A former Freemason, City of London merchant banker Andrew Arbuthnot, was
also able to speak on the question with the knowledge of an initiate. He
told me: 'If you take a purely objective view of religions in the plural,
one has to accept that Freemasonry is a religion. It induces a sense of
brotherhood and togetherness by means of a secret society, which always gives
that sense, but it leads people towards the thought of a Supreme Being, to
the transcendental. It is at least as much a religion as the average, dry
Church of England conventional matins service.'
When Walton Hannah's Darkness Visible appeared in 1952, it caused
a sensation. This book alone deals conclusively with the matter of whether
or not Masonry is a religion as well as reproducing word for word the entire
ritual of Freemasonry in the three Craft degrees and concluding that Masonry
and Christianity are not compatible. Following its publication, an Anglican
vicar who, unlike Hannah, was a Freemason, wrote a book under the pseudonym
Vindex, which was entitled Light Invisible. This was subtitled: The
Freemason's Answer to Darkness Visible, and sought to disprove Hannah's
assertion that Masonry and Christianity were incompatible. Where the book
is valuable, however, is in confirming that Masonry does in fact regard itself
as a religion, whatever it might tell outsiders:

We now come to the core of the matter. What is the religion of
Freemasonry?
It is the oldest of all religious systems, dating from time immemorial
[my italics]. It is not in itself a separate religion, and has never claimed
to be one, but it embodies in itself the fundamental truths and ancient mysteries
on which every religion is based. Taunts that it worships a 'common denominator'
God are rather wide of the mark if the phrase indicates any inadequacy or
limitation in nature or tide of the God we worship, for we worship and believe
as a first principle in the fullness of the Godhead of which other religions
see only in part.

This 'Total God' which Freemasonry claims for itself is not presented to
potential initiates as such. Thousands of practising Christians in Britain
today worship the Freemasonic God believing it to be precisely the same as
the Christian God, if they will it. This is perhaps the most prevalent
misunderstanding by the average Freemason of his own" Brotherhood.
Candidates for initiation are told that one of the basic qualifications for
membership is belief in a Supreme Being of some kind - Jehovah, Allah, the
Holy Trinity of Christianity, it does not matter. So long as this belief
is present, then whichever divine creator an individual Freemason wishes
to follow can be accommodated under the masonic umbrella term for all Supreme
Beings (the impossibility of more than one Supreme Being is ignored), that
of Great Architect of the Universe, [Denoted in printed masonic rituals as
TGAOTU], or sometimes the Grand Geometrician, who created everything with
one sweep of His divine compasses. As Vindex puts it in his general downgrading
of all the Faiths as mere parts of the Masonic Whole:

As Masons, we believe in God, the Father, Almighty. As Christian Masons we
may believe in a symbolical triune essence, and that Jesus Christ is His
Son, Our Lord. As Moslem Masons we are equally entitled to believe that Mahomet
is His prophet. With these subsidiary and secondary beliefs Masonry has nothing
to do, giving her members a perfect liberty to interpret the Godhead as they
please.

This is what Freemasons are taught, and this is what the majority of Freemasons
believe. Even if it were true, there is enough in this statement to show
that Masonry and Christianity are mutually exclusive. Because in this official
view propounded by Vindex for public digestion, the very essence of Christianity
is obliterated. In Masonry, we learn, Christ is not God but man - in Vindex's
estimation the man who showed 'more than any other man who ever lived' what
God is like. He later adds: 'I for one can never understand how anyone who
takes an exclusive view of Christ as the only complete revelation of God's
truth can become a Freemason without suffering from spiritual schizophrenia.
'
There are many people who would agree with this non-exclusivity of Christ's
teaching. But Christianity does not agree with it. The definition of a Christian
is one who believes in Christ's teachings. And Christ taught, rightly or
wrongly, '. . . no one cometh unto the Father, but by me'. Therefore Vindex,
although an Anglican cleric, was not a Christian. And the Freemasonic God
he describes is not a Christian one.
Earlier I used the words 'even if it were true' when referring to the statement
made by Vindex and by Freemasonry of the nature of the Masonic God. I did
this because the assurance given to candidates that the name Great Architect
of the Universe can be applied to whatever Supreme Being they choose is worse
than misleading: it is a blatant lie.
In fact the Masonic God - cloaked under the description Great Architect -
has a specific name and a particular nature, which has nothing to do with
Christ, Vishnu, Buddha, Mohammed or any other being recognized by the great
faiths of the modern world.
Two-thirds of Freemasons never realize the untruth of the line they are fed
as to the identity of the Great Architect, because it is deliberately kept
hidden from them. It is no overstatement to say that most Freemasons, even
those without strong religious convictions, would never have joined the
Brotherhood if they had not been victims of this subtle trick.
The true name, although not the nature, of the Masonic God is revealed only
to those Third Degree Masons who elect to be 'exalted' to the Holy Royal
Arch. The Royal Arch is often thought of as the Fourth Degree (but as explained
in Chapter 5, the Fourth Degree is that of Secret Master), by others as a
'side degree'. In fact the Royal Arch is an extension of the Third Degree,
and represents the completion of the 'ordeal' of the Master Mason. Only about
one-fifth of all Master Masons are exalted. But even these, who are taught
the 'ineffable name' of the masonic God, do not appreciate its true nature.
This is basically because of deliberate obfuscation of the truth by some
of those who know, and a general acceptance that everything is as they are
told by most members of the Brotherhood.
In the ritual of exaltation, the name of the Great Architect of the Universe
is revealed as JAH-BUL-ON not a general umbrella term open to any interpretation
an individual Freemason might choose, but a precise designation that describes
a specific supernatural being - a compound deity composed of three separate
personalities fused in one. Each syllable of the 'ineffable name' represents
one personality of this Trinity:

Baal, of course, was the 'false god' with whom Jahweh competed for the allegiance
of the Israelites in the Old Testament. But more recently, within a hundred
years of the creation of the Freemason's God, the sixteenth-century demonologist
John Weir identified Baal as a devil. This grotesque manifestation of evil
had the body of a spider and three heads - those of a man, a toad and a cat.
A description of Baal to be found in de Plancy's Dictionary of Witchcraft
is particularly apposite when considered in the light of the secretive
and deceptive nature of Freemasonry: his voice was raucous, and he taught
his followers guile, cunning and the ability to become invisible.
In 1873, the renowned masonic author and historian General Albert Pike, later
to become Grand Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Supreme Council
(of the 33rd Degree). at Charles ton, USA, wrote of his reaction on learning
of Jah-Bul-On. He was disquieted and disgusted by the name, and went on:
'No man or body of men can make me accept as a sacred word, as a symbol of
the infinite and eternal Godhead, a mongrel word, in part composed of the
name of an accursed and beastly heathen god, whose name has been for more
than two thousand years an appellation of the Devil.'
I have spoken to no less than fifty-seven long-standing Royal Arch Freemasons
who have been happy to talk to me, to help me in my ambition to give Freemasonry
'a fair crack of the whip'. Most of them spoke quite freely, explaining without
hesitation their views, reactions and answers to the criticisms and queries
I raised. However, all but four lost their self-assurance and composure when
I said, 'What about Jah-Bul-On?' Some, although they had previously told
me they had been exalted to the Royal Arch, and therefore must have not only
received the lecture on the name but also studied the passages and enacted
the ritual relating to Jah-Bul-On, said they had never heard of it. In most
cases the interviewees very rapidly brought the meeting to a close when I
asked the question. Others laughed unconvincingly and extricated themselves
from having to reply by jauntily saying such words a5, 'Oh, that old chestnut',
and passing quickly on to some other subject, normally going on the offensive
with something like, 'Why are you so interested in Freemasonry in particular?
Why don't you look into Christianity or something? Why do people always pick
on Freemasonry?' thereby diverting the conversation from the course I had
plotted. If I insisted on returning to Jah-Bul-On, almost invariably the
interview would be unceremoniously terminated. Others said that although
they had heard of the word, they did not know what jt meant. To them it meant
Go~ previously erudite Freemasons, with a precise knowledge of every other
aspect of Masonry we had discussed, suddenly became vague and claimed ignorance
of this most central of all Freemasonic subjects. While professing an almost
total lack of knowledge of Jah-BulOn, several dismissed it as of no real
importance.
Charles Stratton, one Royal Arch Freemason for whom I have the utmost admiration,
told me this of Jah-Bul-On: 'No one ever has time to think about its meaning,
you're too busy trying to remember your words. As far as I know it's just
another name for Jehovah.'
Acute silences, chiefly of embarrassment, followed my question on many occasions,
as happened when I spoke to a most co-operative officer both of Grand Lodge
and Grand Chapter.
We had been discussing whether or not Freemasonry was a religion, and I had
run through my customary list of religious terms used in Freemasonry. Then
I added, 'One comes across the phrase, "the sacred tenets of Freemasonry".
This seems to imply that Masonry thinks of itself as a religion.'
The Grand Officer replied, 'No, I haven't said that. . . the sacred
tenets?'
'Yes.'
'Well, the word sacred means holy.'
'Yes. Then there's the "Holy" Royal Arch.'
He paused. When he began to speak again it was much more slowly.
'Yes. The Holy Royal Arch. They are all expressions of . . . religion in
its fullest sense, not in a masonic sense. I cannot stress too strongly the
fact that there is no masonic religion, no masonic god, deity or someone
or something to which a Freemason must swear loyalty. No.'
'What about Jah-Bul-On?'
He was obviously taken off-guard. He said nothing for nearly ten seconds
and looked most discomfited. At length, proceeding with the extreme caution
of a man feeling his way through a thicket of thorns, he said: 'These are.
. . Hebrew words which are. . . murdered from their original. And Jah
is the Hebrew word for God, so it's God again. You come back to God,
the real God. But these - ha! [he chuckled] - these are ways in which
we express our loyalty to God.'
'It's interesting you should choose only to define the first syllable, which
is of course the most acceptable to those with religious convictions. But
what about the other parts of that word which are, are they not, Baal and
Osiris?'
Another long pause. 'I don't know them. That's the higher echelons of
Freemasonry.'
'That's in the Royal Arch, isn't it?'
'I don't do Royal Arch. I do Chapter, but not Royal Arch. '
This was the first lie he had told me, and I could see it was unpleasant
for him. [See Mackey' s Revised Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry, Volume
1, P 191.]
I continued: 'It is established that Jahbulon is a composite name for God,
made up of Jah---'
'What's Bul-On?'
'Bul is Baal and On is Osiris, the Ancient Egyptian god of the dead.'
'Well...'
'Pike was outraged when he heard that name for the first time and saw it
associated with Freemasonry, which of course was so dear to him. He said
that nothing would induce him to accept as the name of God a word which is
in part the name of a pagan god and for more than two thousand years an
appellation of the devil.'
'I agree on that, but I . . . I . . . I don't know about it. It's not that
I don't want to. I don't know about it so I really can't comment. You'll
have to ask someone who knows. '
'Does it worry you?'
'In one of the higher degrees they use Jesus Christ.' 'Yes, there are several
masonic orders which are exclusively Christian - the Knights Templar, the
Ancient and Accepted Rite, the Societas Rosicruciana, the Knights of Malta,
the Order of Eri. But does the name Jah-Bul-On worry you?'
'Many Masons wouldn't subscribe to those Christian degrees. '
The implication was clear: if Christ was an acceptable part of Freemasonry
even to a non-Christian, why not the devil as well? Unacceptable though he
might be to most initiates, he has his place.

The Church of England has been a stronghold of Freemasonry for more than
two hundred years. Traditionally, joining the Brotherhood and advancing within
it has always been the key to preferment in the Church. This situation has
altered in the past twenty years and today there are fewer Masons within
the Church than ever before. Even so, the Church is still rife with members
of the Brotherhood. This is why, despite overwhelming evidence of Masonry's
incompatibility with Christianity and the shattering revelation as to the
nature of the Masonic God, no amount of pressure from inside or outside the
Church has so far succeeded in forcing an enquiry into the subject.
Thirty years ago a thirty-eight-year-old Anglican clergyman, the Rev Walton
Hannah, gave up his living in Sussex to devote himself to studying and writing
about Freemasonry. In January 1951, Hannah launched his attack on clergymen
Freemasons in an article in Theology. The article created a fissure
through which poured the pent-up anxieties and suspicion of non-masonic
Anglicans, which had been rumbling beneath the surface for years. The controversy
spread far beyond the pages of theological journals as spin-off
'shock-horror-sensation' pieces appeared in the popular press. The furore
led to a debate in the Church Assembly and it began to look as if the whole
subject of Freemasonry in the Church might be brought before the Convocation
of Canterbury. But as the Archbishop of Canterbury himself (Fisher) was a
powerful Freemason, the Brotherhood had little trouble in blocking the attempt,
and it was ruled out of order on a technicality.
Hannah later published his condemnation of Freemasonry and his arguments
against its compatibility with Christianity in his book Darkness Visible,
in which he pointed out that every Christian Church that had studied
Freemasonry has declared that it was incompatible with Christianity. These
condemnations ranged from the famous papal pronouncements, the first of which
was in 1738, to an instruction of General Booth, founder of the Salvation
Army, that 'no language of mine could be too strong in condemning an Officer's
affiliation with any Society which shuts Him outside its Temples'. The Greek
Orthodox Church, pointing out that Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian
communities had also declared Masonry incompatible with Christianity, condemned
the movement formally in 1933 in part and significantly because 'it constitutes
a mystagogical system which reminds us of the ancient heathen mystery-religions
and cults - from which it descends and is their continuation and regeneration'.
Dr H. S. Box, author of The Nature of Freemasonry, attempted to raise
the issue of Freemasonry in the Canterbury Convocation of the Church of England
in 1951. 'Due largely,' Hannah says, 'to the persuasive influence of the
Masonic Bishop of Reading, Dr A. Groom Parham, this was never debated.' There
was, though, a debate in the Church Assembly in 1952. Hannah records that
the 'critics orMaSOnry were frankly out-manoeuvred by the unexpectedness
and speed with which masons acted': the motion for an enquiry was overwhelmingly
rejected. The Church of England has still never considered the matter officially.
Hannah's conclusion, echoed today by several deeply concerned Church of England
clergy and bishops in private conversation, is that 'the Church. . . dares
not offend or provoke thousands of influential and often financially substantial
laymen by enquiring into the religious implications of Freemasonry'.
The present Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Robert Runcie, is not a Freemason
and a recent survey suggests that many fewer bishops are Freemasons today
than in the 1950s, when it would have been hard to find half a dozen bishops
who were not Masons.
One great difficulty, today as in the 1950s, is for non Masonic clergy and
laity - and indeed the general reader to obtain reliable information about
the religious implications of Freemasonry. The vast - though often inaccessible
- masonic literature is contradictory and full of gaps. It is all but impossible
to know which books and what parts of them reflect the inmost beliefs of
the masonic leadership.
To take one striking example: in the first three degrees the 'blue' Craft
Masonry conducted in Lodges - the initiate is introduced right away to 'The
Great Architect of the Universe' as the masonic deity. He will doubtless
assume according to his upbringing that this is merely a quaint way of referring
to Jahweh, Allah, or the triune God of Christianity. If he should wonder
why this title is a masonic secret and why masonic texts therefore cryptically
refer to the 'GAOTU' instead of simply to God with a capital 'G', he will
probably see no more than a little harmless clandestinity, maybe guessing
(incorrectly) that it is a time honoured vagary deriving from the days of
'operative' masons.
The average Christian man who has not studied the theological implications
of the oaths, rituals and lectures usually experiences a certain initial
moral and religious disquiet about what he has done in joining. Many have
admitted to being somewhat ashamed by the initiation ceremony they have
undergone. But all this is allayed by the reassurance that so many of the
eminent' and reputable have for centuries done the same and that the masonic
system somehow enjoys an immunity in these matters sanctioned by tradition.
As already stated, it is only when a Master Mason is 'exalted' to the Royal
Arch and becomes a member of a Royal Arch Chapter, that the real name of
the 'GAOTU' - Jahbulon - is communicated to him. Even then, carried so far
by his experience of the first three Craft degrees, and being used by that
time to the ambivalence surrounding all masonic ritual and symbolism arising
from the fact that the one masonic dogma is that there are no immutable truths,
most fail to appreciate that they have been deliberately misled into thinking
'GAOTU' is the one God of the great monotheistic religions. No one will enlighten
the duped Royal Arch Masons for no one has the authority to do more than
sketch his own personal interpretation of what the attributes of Jahbulon
may be.
Those that have a feeling for the occult - the true adepts - recognize each
other: they appreciate the real significance behind the deliberate masonic
ambiguities. They develop a confidence in drawing their own deductions, making
their own interpretations of symbolism and ritual. Such people come slowly
to be accepted into the inner sanctum of the Brotherhood. But even among
themselves - to judge by what senior masonic defectors have reported, and
by the rare esoteric literature solely for advanced Masons - there is no
mention of anything openly suggestive of satanism. There is no need: long
practice of the masonic system ensures that the understanding is on another
level. In just the- same way, in worldly matters, all Masons at their initiation
are required to 'declare on your honour that - uninfluenced by mercenary
or other unworthy motive, you freely and voluntarily offer yourself... for
the mysteries and privileges of Freemasonry'. Most candidates fully understand
that this is humbug: they know full well that many join primarily or at least
partly in the hope that membership will forward their worldly ambitions.
But they give their word - and so, right from the beginning, they enter into
the double-speak of Masonry. A doublespeak some learn to talk like a guided
missile homing on its target. It is a double-speak the student of Masonry
must learn to recognize and not allow to confuse him.
Against all this, the Church of England's Society for the Propagation of
Christian Knowledge (SPCK), for example, even today carries no literature
examining Freemasonry and discussing whether a Christian should be a Mason.
Hannah states that the SPCK issued a directive to their bookshops that his
book Darkness Visible, probably still the most accurate and scholarly
general work on the matter, should not be stocked. The Archbishop of Canterbury
is the President of the SPCK. The Archbishop of Canterbury responsible for
banning Hannah's book was Dr Geoffrey Fisher - a Freemason of long standing.
There is no doubt that Freemasonry is extremely anxious to have - or to appear
to have - good relations with all Christian Churches and, knowing that no
serious masonic scholar and no Christian theologian has been prepared to
argue compatibility, the Movement remains silent. There is evidence of very
considerable efforts being made by Masons - including pressures on publishers,
distributors and libraries - to suppress works critical of the Brotherhood.
[This even extends to the Brotherhood's own publications. When the British
Library applied in the normal way to Freemasons Hall for two copies of the
Masonic Year Book for the Reading Room in 1981, it was informed that
it would not be permitted to have copies of the directory then or in the
future. No explanation was given. See also pp. 9-12 on the prepubliction
adventures of The Brotherhood.] - Hannah related how a mysterious
gentleman invited him to the foyer of the Savoy Hotel where he offered the
author £1,000 in notes for not publishing Darkness Visible or
any other attack on Masonry. It should be stated that there is no evidence
of this particular incident except Hannah's word.
Hannah ends his review of the attitudes of the Christian Churches towards
Freemasonry by remarking: 'There is fear on both sides, hence the search
for truth is stifled, and the religious bigamy continues. Only Rome can afford
to smile at the situation, and continue to win converts.' For once, Hannah
- who became a Roman Catholic after the Church of England had failed to examine
Masonry and pronounce upon it - was wrong.
The Church of Rome, traditional arch-enemy of Freemasonry, is even more the
object of masonic attention than the Church of England.

Roman Catholics of the older generation remember pamphlets published by the
Catholic Truth Society (the Roman Church's equivalent of the SPCK) about
the incompatibility of Freemasonry and Catholicism at every church bookstall.
They understood that a long line of Popes had declared Freemasonry illicit
and that Catholics who were Freemasons were automatically excommunicated
by the mere fact of membership.
The situation today has mysteriously changed. Like the SPCK, the CTS has
ceased publishing any guidance on Freemasonry. Priests, although perhaps
better trained today than ever before, are commonly ignorant about the subject
and are themselves unaware of their Church's present position.
I have discovered that there is a deliberate policy in operation within the
English hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church to keep its members in ignorance
of the true standing of the Church on the question of Freemasonry. This policy
is intended to cover up a huge mistake made by the English Catholic Bishops
in 1974 which led to Catholics in Britain being informed that after two hundred
years of implacable opposition from Rome, the Holy See had changed its mind
and that with the permission of their local Bishop Catholics could now become
Freemasons. As well as covering up what I can now reveal as this blunder
on the part of the English hierarchy, the wall-of-silence policy conceals,
perhaps inadvertently, a more sinister situation in Rome, where I have evidence
that the Vatican itself is infiltrated by Freemasons.
In 1982 I asked a trusted friend, a Roman Catholic and like myself an author
and journalist, to raise the matter of the widespread ignorance of Catholics
with the present Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Basil Hume. The Archbishop's
response was: 'I think it would be wise to wait for the publication of the
new Canon Law before taking any public stance on the questions of Freemasons.'
His General Secretary, Monsignor Norris, wrote in amplification: '... we
have been informed that Freemasonry in this country has no connection with
Freemasonry of an unpleasant kind on the Continent'. He went on to add that
a Catholic's Bishop could give permission for a man to join the Brotherhood
if 'convinced [membership] will have no bad effect on the person's Catholicity'.
Only now, after independent investigation by my Roman Catholic friend and
myself, and contact with the Roman Church's hierarchy in Rome, can this statement
be revealed as inaccurate. Norris's comment that'. . . we have been informed...'
begs the question - who convinced the English hierarchy that English
Freemasonry is fundamentally different? What happened to the Canon Law
automatically excommunicating Freemasons? The story is a strange one.
By the 1880s eight Popes had already condemned Freemasonry when Freemasons
urged that these condemnations had been based on erroneous information and
were excessively severe. This led Pope Leo XIII to issue his famous encyclical
Humanum Genus in 1884. Leo XIII classed Freemasonry as a grouping
of secret societies in the 'kingdom of Satan' and, like the Greek Orthodox
Church half a century later, stated that it wished 'to bring back after eighteen
centuries the manners and customs of the pagans'. He qualified Masonry as
subversive of Church and state, condemned it for its rejection of Christian
revelation, and for its religious indifferentism the idea that all religions
are equally valid. He warned against the effectiveness of masonic organization,
its use of figurehead leaders, and its subtle use of 'double-speak'. He urged
the bishops to whom the Encyclical was addressed 'first of all to tear away
the mask of Freemasonry, and let it be seen for what it really is'.
There were further condemnations in 1894 and 1902. Then the Canon Law promulgated
in 1917 provided in Canon 2335 that 'ipso facto excommunication' is
incurred by 'those who enrol in the masonic sect or in other associations
of the same sort which plot against the Church or the legitimate civil
authorities'. One reason for the unusual frequency of these papal condemnations
is that Freemasonry has always had sympathizers, even members, clerical as
well as lay, in the Roman Catholic Church.
From the 1920s Freemasons increasingly urged that British Freemasonry (and
indeed other Freemasonry which did not accept the avowed atheism of the French
and certain other 'Grand Orients' which had cost them recognition by the
British Grand Lodges) was different from what the Popes had had in mind and
so was unjustly condemned: they insisted that this British-type Free masonry
did not plot against either Church or state. The Vatican paid no attention,
but three Jesuits with masonic contacts (Gruber, Bertheloot and Riquet)
successively urged study of the possibility for a rapprochement.
Then came Vatican II and the great impetus this gave to the ecumenical movement
- the reconciliation of all Christians. Senior members of the Brotherhood
saw an opportunity to exploit this enthusiasm and used its ecclesiastical
contacts to renew its call for an end to Catholic hostility. In America,
France and Germany, notably, there were a number of small indications that
the Catholic attitude to Masonry was softening. These were enough for Harry
Carr [Past Junior Grand Deacon; Past Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No
2076 and of four other Lodges - 2265, 2429, 6226 and 7464; Hon. Member of
six Lodges - 236, 2429, 2911, 3931, 7998 and 8227; Hon. Member of eight Lodges
in France, the USA and Canada.], one of those leading Freemasons who, like
Dr Theophilus Desaguliers in the eighteenth century, exercise immense influence
from a discreet position some rungs below the top of the Grand Lodge ladder.
Carr spoke of the possibility of reconciliation to the London Grand Lodge
Association in February 1968.
As related in his book The Freemason at Work, a questioner asked Carr
how there could be any such move while 'defamatory and inaccurate' anti-masonic
literature was on sale at Westminster Cathedral bookstall. Carr wrote to
Cardinal Heenan, then Archbishop of Westminster' who undertook to have the
offending literature, if indeed inaccurate, withdrawn. It was. Heenan saw
Carr on 18 March 1968.
Carr stressed the old distinction between British and atheistic Continental
Freemasonry and said that both as a Jew and a Mason he hoped the time had
come for a reconciliation. According to Carr, this led Heenan to offer himself
as 'intermediary' between English Freemasonry and the Vatican. Carr says
he saw Heenan again on the eve of the Cardinal's departure for Rome. There
was talk of a revision of Canon 2335 and of meetings between the Brotherhood
and the Holy See.
On the surface nothing happened for nearly three years until the spring of
1971 when the Jesuit Father Giovanni Caprile, a leading and very hostile
Catholic expert on Freemasonry, changed tack and wrote a number of conciliatory
articles in the quasi-official Civilta Cattolica. It was widely believed
that Caprile's new line was backed by none other than Cardinal Villot, then
Vatican Secretary of State. The story is that Villot, dubbed a 'progressive',
used Father Caprile's articles to overcome the resistance to any change in
the Church's teaching on Masonry by Cardinal Franjo Seper, Prefect of the
Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.
Against this background Carr saw Heenan a third time on 26 April 1971 and
Heenan related how the Holy See had granted dispensations to two English
Masons to remain members of the Brotherhood after their reception into the
Roman Catholic Church.
On 12 June 1973 Heenan felt able to warn his priests that a change in Rome's
policy towards Masonry was imminent. He was right. After years of procrastination
Cardinal Seper felt obliged on 19 July 1974 to authorize the Sacred Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith to write a confidential letter to certain Episcopal
Conferences, the English among them, commenting on the interpretation to
be given to Canon 2335.
Seper said no more than he had to: someone had pointed out that, as there
was no comma in the definitive Latin text of Canon 2335, it was not clear
whether all Freemasons were automatically excommunicated, or only
those Freemasons whose particular group plots against Church or legitimate
civil authorities. Wherever a Canon provides for penalties, Seper was obliged
to point out, the most restrictive interpretation had to be given in the
case of ambiguity. Therefore, the Canon reserved automatic excommunication
only for the plotters.
Of itself the cautious letter signalled no change in the Church's attitude
to the Brotherhood. But Caprile in Civilta Cattolica published what
was allegedly an 'authorized commentary' suggesting that the Church now
officially accepted that there were masonic associations which did not conspire
against Church or state, that the Church now intended to leave it to local
Episcopal Conferences to decide whether their local Masons were in this category
- and if they were, there need be no ban on Masonry.
The English bishops accepted this view and issued a statement of general
guidance which reads in part:

Times change. The Holy See has reviewed the Church's present relationship
with Freemasonry... the Congregation has ruled that Canon 2335 no longer
automatically bars a Catholic from membership of Masonic groups. . . And
so a Catholic who joins the Freemasons is excommunicated only if the policy
and actions of the Freemasons in his area are known to be hostile to the
Church.

The Catholic News Service announced that the effect of this guidance 'is
to move from a ban on Catholics belonging to the Masonic Movement to a cautious
procedure whereby such membership may in some cases be sought' .
For Carr and for Masonry this was the definitive breakthrough: the reconciliation
so long sought by the Masons had been achieved. As Carr puts it, 'There must
be hundreds of dedicated Masons all over the world who have played some part
in the achievement of this long desired end. We have seen masonic history
in the making. . . the sad story which began in 1738 is happily ended.' Masons
hastened to spread the word that Catholics could at last be Freemasons without
incurring their Church's displeasure.
Inside sources have informed me that behind all this disarray in the Vatican
there may well have been a small number of masonic prelates - specifically
an Archbishop who in July 1975 was dismissed from his post when 'unquestionable
proof' of his being a Freemason was submitted to the Pope. Prima facie
evidence of a few such cases does certainly exist, but as Paul VI, fearing
scandal, ordered no enquiry to establish the truth, rumour has taken over
and spurious lists of high-ranking 'masonic prelates' have been passed around,
making the facts more than ever difficult to establish.
Everywhere there was confusion. In Brazil, on Christmas Day 1975, at the
request of the Masonic Lodge Liberty, Cardinal Abelard Brandao Vilela, Primate
of Brazil, celebrated Mass to commemorate the Lodge's fortieth anniversary.
For his attitude towards the Brotherhood the Cardinal next year received
the tide 'Great Benefactor' of the Lodge.
All this happened under Pope Paul VI who, whatever his other virtues, is
widely considered to have been a weak man unable to face scandal if need
be to keep masonic influence out of the Vatican and national Episcopal
conferences.
With the advent of Pope John Paul II it soon became clear that Harry Carr
had been over-sanguine in suggesting that the story was at an end. On 17
February 1981 the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued
a 'declaration' stating that the 1974 letter had given rise to 'erroneous
and tendentious' interpretations. It insisted: '. . . canonical discipline
regarding Freemasonry remains in force and has not been modified in any way,
consequently neither excommunication nor the other penalties envisaged have
been abrogated'.
The 1974 letter had merely drawn attention to the fact that the Church's
penal laws must always be interpreted restrictively. In evident reproof of
the English bishops, the Congregation declared that it had not intended
Episcopal Conferences to issue public pronouncements of a general character
on the nature of masonic associations 'which would change the position of
the Church in regard to Freemasonry'.
The 1981 declaration pulls the rug from under the new understanding of the
relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and Masonry. Yet it has had
virtually no publicity and the myth that canon law on the subject was changed
in 1974 persists.
Roman Catholics seeking a true answer to the question of the Church's position
on Freemasonry can find it only in the pages of this book. A high Vatican
official, well qualified to explain the present position of the Holy See,
said I should "make four points:

First: the purpose of the Vatican letter of 19 July 1974 was simply to point
out that only the restrictive interpretation of Canon 2335 should be applied:
in other words only those Freemasons whose organization plots against the
(Roman Catholic) Church, or the legitimate civil authorities are automatically
excommunicated, a matter which it is of course extremely difficult to determine
in the case of a secret society where the thinking of its clandestine leading
members is not known to the ordinary membership.
Secondly: the Church wishes to reduce wherever possible the offences that
incur automatic excommunication. Consequently the new Canon Law now before
the Pope may very well end automatic excommunication for Freemasons even
under the restrictive interpretation of the present Canon 2335.
Thirdly, and most important: it does not follow that because some action
may no longer attract automatic excommunication it becomes licit. If
something is contrary to Divine Law it is illicit even though the Church
may apply no extraordinary sanctions. The Vatican draws particular attention
to the findings of the German bishops as recently as May 1980. After prolonged
study in co-operation with German Freemasonry of only the first three 'Craft'
degrees, the German bishops concluded that 'Masonry has not changed' and
can in no way be reconciled with Christianity. The position of the Catholic
Church is thus that, as Freemasonry is essentially similar in Britain and
Germany, the German bishops' conclusions that Freemasonry is contrary to
Divine Law applies to British as much as to German Freemasonry.
Fourthly: there are moral as well as theological and political' issues. It
is unChristian to join any secret organization which systematically benefits
its own members to the detriment of the legitimate interests of non-members.
Insofar as Freemasonry is guilty of this, Roman Catholics obviously should
not join it.

The Vatican's position is thus plain enough for anyone able to travel to
Rome and obtain an audience with an eminent official. As most Catholic clergy
and laity are not in a position to do this, it is curious that the English
hierarchy have left English Catholics in ignorance. It is impossible to guess
how long they would have remained ignorant had not New English Library decided
to commission this investigation into Freemasonry.
An eminent prelate in Rome, who enthusiastically welcomed the prospect of
this book and described the project as 'work of great importance', disclosed
how the English Roman Catholic hierarchy, far from hastening to 'tear away
the mask from Freemasonry' as urged by Pope Leo XIII, is in practice out
on a limb in its toleration of Freemasonry and its unwillingness to give
any guidance to Catholics, even to its own priests. He explained, 'The English
bishops are anxious to give an English face to Catholicism. So, because
Freemasonry is so English, they feel they must come to terms with it. The
bishops wish for silence. '
Effectively, then, the true position of the Roman Catholic Church is not
unlike that of the Church of England. Faced with the prestige, influence,
and prevalence of Freemasonry in British society, both are similarly paralysed.
The Vatican contact said, 'The Catholic hierarchy are well aware too of the
pressures on the Roman Catholic laity in many walks of life to join Freemasonry
if their worldly interests are not to be too gravely prejudiced in an
increasingly masonic world. If the English Bishops do not consider they should
demand that the faithful make the sacrifice required by the official Vatican
position, it is hardly surprising that Freemasonry among Catholics is on
the increase. It is certainly no longer safe to assume that Roman Catholic
professional men are not Freemasons.'

The people and places in the following episode have been given obvious pseudonyms
to make identification impossible and so to protect my informant, an Anglican
vicar. For more than five months after I first heard of this man's plight,
he was guarded about what was happening to him. Eventually, though, he decided
that the disturbing events which took place in and around his parish during
1981 should be widely known - if only to warn other clergymen of the trouble
in which they might become embroiled if they did not handle their local
Freemasons skilfully. At this time the vicar requested that I did not disclose
his name. Less than two days later, after much contemplation and soul-searching,
he decided that he must stand up and be counted even if it meant placing
himself in jeopardy again. But his fear overcame him once again and the
pseudonyms were inserted into his story.
The Parish Church of Epsilon lies between the Berkshire villages of Zeta
and Theta. From the porch there is a beautiful view of the Kappa valley and
the highway beyond. For the Vicar of Epsilon, however, all beauty ends when
he enters his church. He strongly suspects, from his experiences since taking
up the living in 1980 and from his own observations and research, that the
building called Epsilon Parish Church is not a church at all, but a pagan
temple. It .is full of masonic symbols. The Rev Lamda Mu says he came close
to being driven out of his p4rish and his livelihood after opposing plans,
on Christian grounds, for a service in the church for members of the two
local masonic Lodges. When I met the Rev Mu he told me, 'In May 1981 I knew
almost nothing about Freemasonry, but I have since come to understand the
spiritual implications of this whole secret society, religion, or whatever
you may care to call it.'
On 5 May 1982, before deciding finally that it would be too dangerous to
be named, he wrote to me, 'Apart from my testimony, there are two principal
reasons why I have decided to contribute to your work on Freemasonry.' He
asked that I list these reasons in full in his own words:

(1) A number of people for one reason or another in contributing to this
book were unwilling to give their names and I am told that some of the evidence
had to be disguised. This in fact would make it possible for people to criticize
the book as sheer fabrication. I was impressed by the author's motives in
preparing this book on Freemasonry as he wanted to examine the subject from
all points of view so that the reader might be able to make his own judgement
on Freemasonry. I have learned that Freemasonry is very big indeed and I
am only describing my contact with Freemasonry.
(2) I am contributing as a member of the established Church, that has had
strong contacts with Masonry for a very long time. In this day and age it
is fashionable to criticize the establishment, and my very real fear is that
should anything vaguely comparable happen in this country with regard to
Freemasonry as happened with the P2 Lodge in Italy [see Chapter 26], it could
not only seriously undermine but possibly destroy confidence in authority
and the use of authority in this land. I therefore wish to dissociate myself
from all those who desire to use criticism of Masonry for their own ends.

Mu wished it to be said that he bore Masons no animosity or ill-will. He
said that in whatever contacts he had had over the events so far, the Freemasons
themselves had been courteous and polite. 'I must also add that there are
a number of Masons in my parishes, some of them are very close friends of
mine, and some of them played a very active part in saving one of my churches
from certain closure. '
This is the Rev Mu's story.
'I remember as a small boy that my mother announced after seeing a postcard
that somebody had gone to the "Grand Lodge Above". She then showed me my
father's masonic apron. In 1967 at theological college, there was a discussion
about Freemasonry among some of the students. I had no idea what Freemasonry
was. I was given a book on heresies by one of the students which contained
eight pages on Freemasonry. I read it and this in fact has coloured all my
thinking on Masonry. I felt, as a Christian believing in Jesus Christ, I
could not become a Mason as this would mean denying Jesus Christ as the Saviour
of the world.
'Before I became Vicar of [Epsilon] in Berkshire in 1980, I was told that
the Freemasons had an annual service once a year in [Epsilon] Church. I raised
this with the Bishop, who advised me to allow the Masons to have their service
but ask to see the order of service beforehand and to insist on every prayer
being said "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ". In May 1981, I received
a letter from the [Theta] Lodge requesting a service in [Epsilon] Church.
The letter gave no indication as to what exactly the Masons wanted and I
was concerned that I would be involved in all sorts of bizarre rituals. I
later discovered that they had only wanted Prayer Book Evensong. The surprise
for me on the letter was a masonic symbol, which I recognized immediately
as being like a sign in [Epsilon] Church. I had to reply to the letter
fairly quickly, but I had no idea what to do. The one person I felt I could
talk to about this was away on holiday. I did not know who were Masons and
who were not. I did not know what the feelings of the local clergy were on
Masonry, and I was not absolutely certain if even the Bishop was a Mason.
(As it turned out he most certainly was not.) I remembered hearing something
of a clergyman who was driven from this country to Canada or somewhere because
he opposed Masonry. I later discovered that this was Walton Hannah. I had
no wish to follow him but I was extremely reluctant to be involved in any
way with a society that wanted a service in church but wanted the Founder
of the church excluded. It took me four or five days to summon up enough
courage to reply to the Masons. I said that all my knowledge of Masonry was
second hand, I knew very little about Masonry, except that Masons had services
which did not allow the name of Jesus Christ to be used, and for that reason
I was not happy about them having a service. I did not flatly refuse to give
them a service, but made the same conditions as those suggested by the Bishop,
only adding that I should preach the sermon. Had I known then the
kind of hymns Masons sing, I would have wanted to see those in advance as
well.
'Over a period of time, I became aware of a gathering storm, and I began
in desperation to search for books about Masonry. I found one which only
confirmed my views and made me even more aware of the true nature of Freemasonry.
Also I began to find out who were Masons in all three of my parishes, and
this provided me with many surprises. I sensed a major storm was brewing
and I felt totally ill equipped to face what was about to happen. I had become
aware that a number of Popes had condemned Masonry and I discovered a number
of books on the subject at Douai Abbey. I had practically no time to read
them before I was given six days' notice that the only subject on the agenda
for the next Parish Church Council meeting at [Epsilon] was the Annual
Freemasons' Service. In that brief period of time I tried to prepare as
convincing a case as possible as to why I knew a Christian could not be a
Mason. I used some information from the recent 'Credo television
programme, and I even quoted from the 39 Articles the relevant articles which
should convince any Anglican that he cannot be an Anglican and a Mason. I
was not allowed to explain anything about the rituals of Masonry as the meeting
suddenly exploded in uproar. Some of the members were very angry with me
and felt that I had insulted their relatives dead and living. In the end
the PCC passed a resolution asking me to consider writing to the Masons inviting
them back again. If I did not do this, I was told that they would all resign,
and one person warned me that I might become" a Vicar without a Parish".
They then decided to have a further meeting two weeks later.
'What surprised me most of all was that they could not accept or could not
hear me say that Masonry was contrary to the first three of the Ten Commandments
and denied Christ. They said that as many clergy were Masons, including bishops,
there was nothing wrong with it. I do not recount all this in order to criticize
the way the PCC reacted. I felt that for many decades the PCC had been badly
let down by the clergy who have been Masons and believed that it was compatible
with their allegiance to Christ. It grieves me to think of those times and
the only reason why I relate all this is hopefully to spare some other vicar
and PCC the kind of experience we all suffered at that time. The next morning,
I wrote to the Bishop and said that I had no intention of sending any letter
to the Masons. One of my churchwardens came to see me. He was greatly distressed
by all that had happened and asked me to reconsider writing to the Masons
and he told me how upset many people were, and that unless I wrote a letter
they would all resign. I wrote a further letter to the Bishop suggesting
how I proposed to resolve the crisis. The Bishop replied with a very tough
letter condemning Masonry in no uncertain terms. He supported my actions,
adding that had he been in my position he would have done as I did. The letter
displayed his deep loyalty to Christ. Nevertheless at the next meeting, I
did produce a letter which was not accepted. I produced another letter, in
which I regretted the upset I had caused everyone and that I had not realized
that all they wanted was Evensong. I also said that I thought that they had
wanted a masonic service. Even with the letter that I finally sent to the
Masons I had to omit the one and only reference I made to Jesus Christ. One
of my churchwardens worked overtime to restore peace and harmony, and he
succeeded.
'I felt very puzzled by all that had happened. I could not understand why
the PCC acted in the way it had. Why had they been so angry and upset? What
puzzled me most of all was that none of them were Masons! There had to be
a reason behind it all and I just did not know the reason. The Bishop came
to see me. At first I was worried as he had told me before I became a vicar
that he would support me in my parishes but if he felt that I was wrong over
something he would tell me privately. I need not have worried, his real concern
was how I had taken everything, and he only came to support me and my wife.
In retrospect I feel she suffered most of all through the crisis. We had
a long and happy time with the Bishop over a meal discussing all that had
happened; he also told me to expect further consequences of my actions. I
did not understand at the time what he meant, and to a certain extent, I
still do not understand. I had only just weathered a major crisis. Without
the firm support of the Bishop, it is unlikely that I would still be Vicar
of [Epsilon ]. I was still very puzzled by all that had happened and I just
did not appreciate the spiritual implications of Freemasonry.
'If ever I faced another crisis over Freemasonry, I felt that I had to know
what Freemasonry was. I came up against another problem: nearly all the books
that I had borrowed on Freemasonry had been out of print for many years.
It took many months even to obtain one or two of the books. Someone lent
to me a copy of Richard Carlile's Manual of Freemasonry. This was
the first masonic book I ever saw that gave full details of the rituals of
Masonry.
Although produced early in the last century, it remains a very important
document on Freemasonry. I also wrote to London Weekend Television in the
hope of obtaining a copy of the German Bishops' Report on Freemasonry from
James Rushbrooke, a scholar who had appeared on the Credo programme.
On the same day, I received not only James Rushbrooke's translation of the
Report, but also another translation from some other source. Not only that
but the Rev John Lawrence, who had also been involved in the Credo
programme, contacted me, and not long afterwards, I was also visited
by James Rushbrooke. James impressed upon me how large a thing Masonry was
and considered that I had acted bravely in taking the action I did, ". .
. because you know they will put your name down on their list of clergymen
who are actively opposed to Freemasonry".
'There were two other things that happened. One was that the local Masons
went to another church and the preacher at the service made some unpleasant
comments about my attitude towards Freemasonry. The Vicar of the parish came
and apologized to me afterwards. I felt very sorry for him and tried to ease
his conscience, but I also pointed out that I as a Christian could not accept
Masonry. The other incident was that a member of one of my parishes, a Mason,
asked to see me. I had made a point of seeing the churchgoing Masons and
I thought I had reassured them that I had no intention of driving Masons
out of church. The minute you drive any sinner out of church you go against
the principle that the church exists to reform penitent sinners through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Freemasonry does not operate on that principle and therefore
I explained that I was against the system but not the people involved
in it. This parishioner was still worried and confused by my actions. We
had a very long conversation in which I began to have the feeling that Masonry
really did have a false spirit behind it. The fellowship of Masonry was a
counterfeit of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. I was taken by surprise
for a moment when he told me that if I wanted to join a Lodge, I would be
made very welcome!
'I have only told you the bare bones of what happened. I have deliberately
avoided as far as possible giving theological opinions about Masonry or indeed
details about the rituals of Masonry as there is plenty of information available
to anyone who wishes to find it. The books on Masonry are endless. During
the following month:, I learnt more and more about Masonry and discovered
many more symbols of Masonry in [Epsilon] Church to the extent that now I
really wonder if it is a church at all.
'I have also learned that the last family owner of [Epsilon] Court had been
a top Mason. I found this out from an old masonic book which listed two pages
of his many masonic connections. I have also become alarmed by the deep occult
connections there are in Masonry.'
The one fortunate discovery Mu has made, he told me, was the testimony of
former Masons who have renounced the Brotherhood and turned 'wholeheartedly
to Christ'.
In May 1981 - a month of controversial masonic activity in a number of disparate
areas - another clergyman was sacked from his church and ordered to leave
the manse. He later claimed before an industrial tribunal that the Presbyterian
Church of Wales had dismissed him purely because he had preached against
Freemasonry. The Rev William Colin Davies of Whitchurch, Cardiff, requested
through his lawyer that there should be no member of the Brotherhood on the
tribunal, which was agreed.
The minister's duties called for him to preach thirty-six Sundays of the
year at his own church and twelve Sundays in other churches without a regular
minister. In August 1979 Davies wrote to the Church's rota secretary stating
that he did not wish to be seen to be helping in the teachings of tenets
of Freemasonry, which he believed to be 'a challenge to the discipleship
of Jesus Christ'. He enclosed a cheque for £108.00 to cover his absence
from certain churches where he felt his presence had been both unexpected
and unwanted because of his views on Freemasonry. When I spoke to him about
his case in May 1982, Davies said that the Presbyterian Church of Wales was
particularly strongly influenced by members of the Brotherhood among its
own members and administration. He explained, 'I became a minister in 1974
and Cardiff was my first pastorate. I had two churches. In one of them I
encountered some Freemasons. I did not know then what I know now. I researched
into Masonry and found it entirely incompatible with faith in Jesus Christ.
I spoke privately to some men in the church, and without making it a bee
in my bonnet I did some comparisons between Freemasonry and Christianity
during the course of some sermons. I compared, for example, the meaning of
faith in Christianity and the masonic meaning of faith.
'In February 1980 I discovered a booklet called Christ, the Christian
and Freemasonry which I circulated among the members of the church.
'By this time I had been reported to the local church governing body - the
presbytery - and a committee of seven men came to see me. I know now that
some of them were Freemasons. They accused me of being an evangelical Christian,
which I am, 'intolerant of un-Biblical teaching and in particular Freemasonry'.
They accused me of being un-compassionate, which presumably meant I had upset
Masons' and their relatives' feelings. It was said that membership of my
church was going down, but I had had about fifty of the elderly members die
and had introduced twenty-six new members. They said I was not ecumenically
minded enough in that I didn't join in local services of other churches,
which was not true. It is true that I have reservations about the present
moves towards church unity but we did have ecumenical meetings with local
churches roundabout. And I was accused of allowing the children's work to
decline when it is actually expanding. I knew then that the rest of the charges
had been trumped up by Masons determined to end my opposition to Masonry.
I was not allowed to answer the charges. And then when I next met them a
month later on 20 June 1980 they presented a report before the governing
body without any warning - and I was dismissed.
'I received information several days later from a member of my other church
who made some enquiries of some masonic friends that a Lodge meeting had
taken place in March at which it was decided that pressure had to be brought
to bear to have me removed. I have made this charge in public and it has
never been rebutted.
'I was dismissed from the pastorate, not from my ministry. These are technically
different, in practice the same. I then appealed to the highest body in the
church, the Association, which appointed a panel of men to look into it.
They said that a period of twelve months should be allowed to see if a
reconciliation could be achieved between me and the local people who wanted
me sacked. I agreed to this but they made no attempt at reconciliation.
'I won my appeal but it was not implemented because my local church would
not accept it. I was sacked and told to leave my house within six weeks.'
The elders of the church claimed before the industrial tribunal that Davies
had not been an employee of the Church but self-employed, and as such ineligible
to claim unfair dismissal. They cited the case of a minister dismissed from
Scunthorpe Congregational Church in 1978 as a precedent. But the non-masonic
tribunal decided that Davies had been an employee and therefore had the right
to seek a ruling.
Meanwhile, after six months on the dole, he works (at the time of writing)
as minister for an independent church he has formed at Whitchurch along with
members of both his former churches.

UNITED KINGDOM: The Freemasons and Police

Have the British police fallen under the sway of Freemasons? The boss of
Scotland Yard and officials at the Home Office say they are worried about
the Freemasons' influence over senior police officers. Several cases of
corruption are said to have been covered up at the bidding of the brotherhood.
At least one in seven male magistrates in the U.K. are members of the Freemason
brotherhood, according to a first official survey of the judiciary's links
with the secret organization. The survey was (...)

UNITED KINGDOM: FREEMASONS BEND TO PRESSURE

Police officers and local government officials figure largely among the 50
British Freemasons who have resigned from their lodges on claims their careers
would be damaged if they were publicly identified as members of "the Craft,"
according to John Hamill, curator, librarian and spokesman for the Un
(...) [Total = 2199 characters]

UNITED KINGDOM: FINGER-POINTING AT FREEMASONS

Gavin Purser, president of the United Grand Lodge of England's Board of General
Purposes, has reluctantly given the names of 16 Freemasons linked to a number
of controversial police investigations in the 1970s and 1980s to Chris Mullin,
chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, after being thr
(...) [Total = 2169 characters]

UNITED KINGDOM: THE PARLIAMENT WANTS NAMES OF FREEMASONS

Senior officials of the ruling council of British Freemasonry, the United
Grand Lodge of England (UGL) , face charges of contempt of parliament if
they fail to provide the Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs with the
names of 163 members connected with police corruption and miscarriages of
j (...) [Total = 2373 characters]

UNITED KINGDOM: FREEMASONS AND THE JUDICIARY

Britain's Association of Women Barristers (AWB) has recommended to the Commons
Home Affairs committee that members of the Freemason Brotherhood who are
appointed as judges should either resign their Masonic membership on the
occasion or at least declare it publicly. (...) [Total
= 1746 characters]

UNITED KINGDOM: FREDERICK CRAWFORD

Prime minister John Major has personally appointed a Freemason, Frederick
Crawford, to the £80,000-per-year, part-time post as chairman of the
new Criminal Cases Review Authority (CCRA). The move came
(...) [Total = 1620 characters]

UNITED KINGDOM: NEW WARNING ON MASON LINKS

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has drawn up national guidelines
warning police officers that membership of the Freemasons (or other secretive
and influential societies) could "compromise their integrity as impartial
upholders of the law. [Total = 1673 characters]

UNITED KINGDOM: MASONIC SECRETS INTACT

Expectations that a House of Commons select committee on home affairs might
provide details of alleged Masonic penetration of the judiciary and the police
(IN 259) are "receding into the distance" because of a backlog of business
that the committee has to deal with, according to a Conservative membe
(...) [Total = 1888 characters]

UNITED KINGDOM: ANOTHER POKE IN EYE FOR MASONS

London's Metropolitan Police commissioner, Paul Condon, has ordered that
all officers with links to the Freemason Brotherhood be ousted from Scotland
Yard's anti-corruption unit. The move came after a (...)
[Total = 1640 characters]

UNITED KINGDOM: FREEMASONS MAY BE PROBED

The House of Commons committee of all-party MP's headed by Lord Nolan will
shortly consider examining the role and influence of the Brotherhood of
Freemasons within the British establishment. The comm (...)
[Total = 1712 characters]

UNITED KINGDOM: POLICE SUPPORT FREEMASON SECRECY

Following the first-ever debate of its kind, the Police Federation rejected
a motion by 429 votes to 391 to compel all officers belonging to the Freemason
Brotherhood or other secret societies to declare their membership publicly.
[Total = 1808 characters]

UNITED KINGDOM: A PUBLIC LIST OF GOVERNMENT FREEMASONS?

Labour MP Chris Mullin's Secret Societies (Declaration) Bill is due for its
second reading on 29 January 1993. The bill would place most public servants,
including police, under a legal obligation to (...) [Total
= 273 characters]

UNITED KINGDOM: JOHN SMITH

John Smith, Deputy Police Commissioner, Scotland Yard, is the strong favorite
to become the next Commissioner of the "Met", succeeding Sir Peter Imbert,
who is likely to resign in the autumn after a five year term.
[Total = 1477 characters]

16Oct00 Tony Gosling

The Park Street Masonic Hall was one of the 'Bristol open door' venues this
year. A rare opportunity to have a poke around our city's normally forbidden
freemasonic H.Q.. Most Bristolians, if you ask them, walk straight past the
sandy old building at the bottom of Park Street all their lives without knowing
where the Masonic Hall is, let alone wondering what might go on inside.
All masons must believe in some kind of supreme being or god. The other
prerequisite is a belief in an afterlife. And they seem to have at least
one 'god' on their side. Though Tony Blair promised a public register of
Freemasons in the Labour Manifesto (to combat masonic police corruption)
miraculously no new law has been drawn up to implement the pledge, now all
but forgotten.
We were shown round by the grand wizard: Dr Dennis Fox, or to give him his
masonic title 'Provincial Grand Master'. Bristol, we were told, is the only
masonic 'province' in the country to be a city rather than a county. Masonry
is, Fox explained, a mainly charitable institution. It is not a 'secret society'
but a 'society with secrets'. One of the secrets that was not related to
us by our guide is that the M25 road-rage murderer and cop-killer Kenneth
Noye was the head of his local masonic lodge.
We were shown Bristol's main temple with its high-backed chairs at the ends,
portraits of past Grand Masters along the walls and chequerboard carpet in
the centre. This, we were told, is where the craft, that is the first second
and third degree masons, do their ceremonies.
In the next small ante-room something called the 'ceremony of the veils'
takes place we were told. The analogy is that someone who has been picked
to join the higher (Royal Arch) levels of freemasonry is passing from a state
of ignorance to a state of enlightenment. Only masons of a higher degree
than him can part the 'veils of ignorance' so he can become 'enlightened'
and be allowed into the 'Royal Arch' which is apparently the masonic 4th
to 33rd degree.
Then we moved into the Royal Arch temple laid out, Dr. Fox explained, like
a Synagogue with the flagpoles and pendants of the twelve tribes of Isreal
in the centre. Both windowless temples were entirely free from natural light
and, instead of switches, had hefty 1950's dimmer wheels by the entrances.
Mason guides I asked about this gave me conflicting stories but the dimmers
suggested that some of the ceremonies in the temples could be conducted in
darkness, with only a few candles to see by.
In the Royal Arch temple we 40 or so masonic tourists listened to Dr Fox
as he talked us through some of the aprons and other paraphernalia of the
various masonic degrees. The open session that followed began with some questions
about why women couldn't join. We were told they can and do join special
women's Eastern Star lodges. One question to which there was no answer
forthcoming though was 'what are the actual rituals you perform in here?'.
Dr Fox didn't want to answer and advised us to look it up in the public library.
At one point Dr Fox mentioned a recent book purporting to link the Medieval
Knights Templar with the early freemasons. This, presumably, was 'Secrets
of the Lodge', by Tubal Cain (pub. Delphi). This comes up with strong evidence
of continuity: banking, ritual, hidden passageways, wealth, secrecy and sunless
temples are strong characteristics of both. When pressed Dr Fox denied that
he has ever had any financial or 'pecuniary' advantage from his masonic
connections.
During the tour there were masons posted at strategic points around the lodge
to stop visitors 'wandering off'. These masons barred any exploration of
the lower levels of the lodge which might reveal regalia changing rooms and
passages to nearby buildings. This guesswork was partly confirmed when we
were told the story of the owner of a hat shop opposite who had managed to
get into the basement of the lodge and rescue some valuables when the building
was bombed during world war two. The artifacts had been in the basement so
how did he get in and out of a bombed building?? Not necessarily as mysterious
as it might seem.
One theme in Dr Fox's commentary was the easy compatibility of Freemasonry
with Christianity. A recent book 'Freemasonry, A Christian Perspective' by
John Lawrence (Pub. Gazelle Books) reveals that most top-ranking Church of
England clergy are masons but it draws the opposite conclusion on compatibility.
So when I found myself standing next to Bristol's Grand Wizz after the tour
had finished, I raised some questions.
One central Christian/masonic conflict is with the blood-oath sworn by masons.
On initiation into the first degree they have to swear to keep the secrets
of masonry and to always protect a fellow mason. In the sermon on the mount
at Matthew 5:33 Christ advises us: 'Do not swear an oath... simply let your
"yes" be "yes" and your "no" be "no", anything else comes from the devil.'
When I quoted this snippet of scripture to him Dr Fox looked a little perplexed
and questioned the validity of my translation. Had I read the verse in the
original Hebrew?
After a little thought I pointed out that Matthew was originally written
in Greek, not Hebrew. Dr Fox then asked me what I would do in a court room
if asked to swear on the Bible. I explained I would not swear on the Bible
but quote that verse instead. He quoted a disputed verse from the end of
Mark about 'thrusting one's hand into a nest of vipers' and made off.
I remain to be convinced that the freemasons are anything other than an
anti-social, sexist, racist club of men who think themselves above anyone
not in the club. Just look at the wealth and influence masonic accountants,
solicitors, judges, magistrates, police, military officers, councillors,
civil servants, bankers, barristers and businessmen have. The perfect elitist
and endemically secretive 'old boy network'.
Spiritually, I found Bristol Freemasons Hall a dark and negative place, it
took my fellow visitors and I two hours or so to recover composure in a local
coffee shop after the visit. As we talked over the visit our response was
that the lodge was a harbour for grasping men who dare not expose corrupt
connections to public scrutiny.
When I politely pointed out to a Bristol magistrate who was shepherding us
round that masons don't have a monopoly on integrity he invited me to join.
He missed the point. To my knowledge they have not held an open day since.

Extra information:

Dr Dennis Fox, Provincial Grand Master, was, up until Local Government
reorganisation, Chairman of the planning committee of the former Avon County
Council. Frank Maude, the Chief Executive at the same time, was also reportedly
a mason.

Correspondance received refering to this article:

You have to start at the bottom of this bit I'm afraid to follow the thread
- Tony

Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 22:57:24 -0500
From: Jim Wood <jtwood3@home.com>
X-Accept-Language: en
To: Tony Gosling <tony@gaia.org>
Subject: Re: the light of life
Get a life sonny! I don't like spam.
Tony Gosling wrote:
> Jim,
>
> I've received several compliments over the article and I can't
understand
> what about it you think might be fabricated. If you are a Mason
yourself
> don't forget, God will comfort your soul and forgive - if you are
willing
> to change.
>
> "I am the light of the world: He that followeth me shall not walk in
> darkness, but shall have the light of life." - Jesus of Nazareth, John
8:12

Tony Gosling - 07Jul00
New Labour promised us a public register of Masonic police, judges and
magistrates in its manifesto. This spring the Home Office, that vast Masonic
rabbit warren, decided that unfortunately a public list of masons was not
possible, it would ‘undermine the credibility of the police’. Surely
corrupt masons are making a nice job of that already.
Not to worry though, the Masons have come clean. ‘Straight up’.
Haven’t you seen the latest campaign? The square and compasses in careers
offices with ‘Join the Masons’. ‘Come Worship The Great Architect
of the Universe’ proudly displayed on Masonic halls. No longer a
‘secret society’ freemasonry is now an amiable ‘society with
secrets’.
Secrets like how to kill drivers... and cops... and get away with it. Like
how to get guns and ammunition even though you are ‘unstable’ and
have an ‘extremely unhealthy interest’ in young boys. Britain’s
most depraved men of recent times, M25 road-raging cop-killer Kenneth Noye
and Thomas Hamilton, demon of Dunblane, were just two of many ‘on the
level’.
The manifesto committment clearly had sound reasons behind it but between
the silence and the spin it can still be tempting to write the masonic network
off as harmless. Unless, that is, the icy eye falls on one’s own friends.
In September 1996 Biggs, Rastafarian and leading light in Bedfordshire’s
‘Exodus’ free-party collective, found himself on trial for murder
in Luton crown court. It was the culmination of several years of police
harassment. Just before the trial it was discovered the Judge, Maurice Drake,
who’d been brought out of retirement specially, was Masonic Magus of
Bedfordshire. His worship was ‘reminded’ of the masonic conflict
of interest and resigned.
After hearing the flimsy police evidence the retrial judge threw the case
out. He didn’t need to hear Biggs’ defence.
Nobody wants to believe justice can be this contaminated. But that wishful
thinking can be a serious self-delusion. By dismissing corruption as mumbo-jumbo
we nourish it.
Masonic rites of passage are the same as those of witchcraft: the initiate
is blindfolded, bound by a rope and has the point of a knife pressed to his
chest. Under threat of death, he swears a oath of secrecy and protection
of fellow initiates to the high priest. The penalty for disobedience:
‘...having my throat cut across and my tongue torn out by the root...’
Critical histories of the occult conclude the masons to be a modern incarnation
of the medieval Knights Templar: pseudo-Christian killers, plunderers, and
bankers.
Banned by Demon Internet for its vitriolic humour, ‘Victims of Masonic
Ill Treatment’ is a weekly newsheet from Buckinghamshire. Published
by a disaffected Scottish mason, VOMIT seems to be the UK’s only critical
clearing house for Masonic gossip. The official source at Freemasons Hall
in London is remarkable only for its extreme prevarication.
Looking ahead, the current Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill looks
set to dig deep into journalists rights. We may find ourselves charged with
a criminal offence facing police witnesses simply for protecting sources.
In such a case your N.U.J. lawyer should be in court defending you, not their
career prospects. Disturbing then, to see the representative from new N.U.J.
lawyers firm, Thompsons, giving the second degree masonic hailing sign.
It would be smart for the N.U.J. to grasp the nettle by running a verified,
up-to-date list of non-Masonic union officials, lawyers and newspaper/broadcast
editors? And most illuminating to see who fails to appear.
The Brotherhood, Stephen Knight, Granada, 1983.
Secrets of the Lodge, Tubal Cain, Delphi, 1999.
VOMIT Tel 01494 871204 Email:
vomituk@my-deja.com Website
http://www.vomit.cc

by Tony Gosling @nticopyright
When I first heard about the Freemasons they seemed harmless enough, a likable
curiosity. Aprons? Secret handshakes? A bit of childlike escapism for grown-ups?
But Stephen Knight and Martin Short's masonic exposés reveal an occult
order where standards are falling rapidly. Their investigations reveal a
more sinister picture of the world's most extensive secret society.
On an individual level privacy is an essential right, but the characteristics
of freemasonry make it inappropriate in many cases. Britain's 700,000 masons,
that's about one in thirty adult men, form a secret link between the country's
most powerful institutions. Secret masonic links can be used by unscrupulous
businessmen and other individuals to compromise the independence and integrity
of the media, judiciary, local government, lawyers, MP's, local councillors,
royalty, politicians, armed forces, police, civil servants, and intelligence
agencies. And, in the 1990's, as economic pressures increase, so does the
temptation to abuse the masonic network for private gain. A complete national
list of initiates is the very least the public require if masonic assisted
corruption in positions of public trust is to be checked out, and ruled out.
Bloodcurdling initiation rites, occultism, secret expressions, closed meetings...
and all for what?
New recruits are drummed up by existing masons '...it might be a good idea
to join...' but the choice of whether to actually apply or not is up to the
individual. So what does that decision say about a person? Anyone who approaches
the masons in order to join will probably be encouraged by the prospect of
gaining social positions by the back door. In other words the initiate has
the fundamental ingredient of a cheat who is prepared to go behind the public's
back because he lacks confidence, self-belief or integrity. Masons are men
who fight shy of free and open discussion. The usual reason for men joining
is to take up the masons' unofficial promise to further one's career.
So why aren't these powerful people coming clean?
In the lowest three degrees of masonry there is a plethora of silly rituals
that may, or may not, mean something. The point of these is surely to brainwash
men into accepting bizarre subservience without questioning why they are
doing it. If initiates prove to be truly and ingratiatingly obedient they
are then selected by their Masonic betters to enter the higher degrees up
to level 33 [see extract below]. The move to these higher degrees is like
stepping from the second class to the first class carriage on a train. The
4th to 33rd degree seems to be called the 'Royal Arch' though I can find
no masonic literature 'spelling that out'.
The Royal Arch is more like a gentleman's club than the lower levels. In
Britain the H.Q. of the Royal Arch 'The Supreme Council' is at 10 Duke Street,
St. James's London SW1. Check out the brass plaque by the door, 'The Supreme
Council, Ring Once'
Another notable and easily missed Masonic venue is no. 86 St. James' Street
in London SW1. The Mark Masons HQ or the 'Worshipful Society of Free Masons'
is just a stone's throw from the royal hangout of St. James' Palace. At the
front of the masonic building is an office of Kall-Kwik printing.
So secrecy is at the very heart of what the masons are about. Masonry is
for those who'd never be able to get what they want by open discussion. Masons
celebrate the ignorance in others and as such keep progress of human
understanding. Masons are going behind people's backs with their patronising,
condescending and subversive brotherhood.
Britain's Grand Master (33rd degree) Mason is Prince Michael of Kent. His
father the then Duke of Kent, was a Nazi supporter in World War 2. Hardly
encouraging
Masonry is bad for the families of those who join it, because it can, and
frequently does, take precedence over everything else in their lives. It
is bad for culture, democracy and the nation. The fact that so many of our
so called public 'servants' are secretly masons subverts the crucial principle
of open government. As one of Stephen Knight's anonymous ex-masons attests
[see below], 'There is no defence against an evil which only the victims
and the perpetrators know exists.'
An attempt to expose precise details of all the cranky rituals performed
in the lodge is time consuming and surely misses the point. The message is
already clear... powerful people are putting time in behind closed doors
for their clique's advantage, and therefore our decline.

"...he attempts to prove Masonic corruption..." - actually what I'm attempting
is to roll back the veil of secrecy surrounding the Masons. The more I roll
it back the the more decietful and corrupt it appears and the less I like
what I see.

Tony Gosling - An eclectic combination of conspiracy theorist and self-absorbed
clarifier of the many truths which the rest of mankind seems to have somehow
overlooked, Gosling appears to be a much younger soul-mate of VOMIT/James
Todd and has a large amount of material on his web site where he attempts
to prove Masonic corruption - along with the many other corruptions he finds
- in his homeland, England. He also finds problems with others including
the Bildeburgers, the BBC who charge him for his UK television license and
US President Bill Clinton. We've found it ironic that an individual who rails
for human equality would find Freemasonry - which has had strong concepts
of such equality since its beginnings - so troublesome. For some, it seems,
the cry of 'equality' is simply a plea for them to get something for
'nothing'....
from
http://www.masonicinfo.com/others_pg1.htm

A leading councillor in Bristol demands all council masons reveal their
membership

George Micklewright, Leader of the liberal group on Bristol City Council
is concerned, he got a front page spread on the masons in Bristol's 'Evening
Post' demanding disclosure of masonic membership.
via Lucy on 0117 922 2639

David is convinced he is being victimised

David says he has evidence of a masonic plot against him involving DC Wellington
of the Totton police, Mr. Fraser-Scott (a typesetter who claims to be an
investigative reporter), Mr. Dirks a local solicitor and several other
solicitors, the official reciever, trading standards officers and the DTI.
David Turner, c/o Holly Bush, Weston Lane, Winterslow, Salisbury, Wiltshire,
SP5 1RL

The VOMIT newssheet comes out weekly. It is vitriolic and has short ascerbic
news articles purporting to expose corruption caused by the 'JMF', which
it describes as:
"..the Judeao Masonic Faction; the heirarchies of Jews and Masons,
the Establishment, the Old Boy Network or whatever you want to call it. It
is the thing which controls our lives and contaminates the Judiciary and
the Executive. It is the thing which makes a mockery of human rights and
democracy."
VOMIT can be obtained from JM Todd, Misbourne Farmhouse, Amersham Road,
Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire, HP8 4RU.
Enquiries and editorial phone/fax number 01494 871204

VOMIT resources on the internet

See newsgroups
alt.freemasonry,
uk.gov.local and
uk.legal for the latest edition
- go to a good search engine (not excite or yahoo) and search
usenet drop down box for "victims of masonic ill treatment"
or just "VOMIT"

Extract from VOMIT 12/98 'Calling All Victims'

LETTERS
Letter dated 16 April 1998 from Mr J S Chalmers, Field End, 51 Conway Crescent,
Burnham-on-Sea,Somerset TA8 2UW (Telephone 01278 794374) to J M Todd
Dear Mr Todd,
As a fellow Mason I should address you as Brother but I am so appalled by
a letter which you wrote recently to the press I feel disinclined to do so.
I find it unbelievable to say 'I do not know a single Mason who has not been
prepared to accept preferential treatment derived from Masonic Membership'.
The principles of the Craft that I certainly uphold, clearly forbid any
'preferential treatment' and I for one never gained any such advantage from
my membership of 25 years. The impression you give to the public at large
is a disgrace to Freemasonry and quite shameful to make such a statement.
You are fully aware that there is a National Register of members and like
any other Association this is mainly kept private. How can you remain a member
if you truly believe what you have said?
There will always be 'black sheep' in any organisation but you malign many
thousands of decent men in the craft by your sweeping statement. I have always
lived up to the code of conduct contained in our ritual and true friendship
in the Brotherhood of Masonry can only exist if it is untainted by such
hypocrisy. I trust many others will point out the error of your ways.
Signed J S Chalmers W Bro. J. S. CHALMERS. P. PRO. G. SUPT. OF WORKS (West
Kent).
Reply dated 18 April 1998 from J M Todd.
Dear Mr Chalmers,
I thank you for your letter of 16 April 1998 referring to my letter of 21
February published by the Times. One thousand salutations to you and ten
Brownie points and may the Great Architect of the Universe watch over you.
It was not my intention to offend decent Masons but rather to waken them
up to the reality of Freemasonry. For my first twenty years of Masonic
subservience my attitude was exactly like yours. I may still be a member
because in Scotland one is automatically a life member in order to maintain
a maximum number of brainwashed slaves to the cause.
My view is that Masons in high places are black sheep and that the rest are
white sheep. Since it is obvious that you are one of the lower order Masons
who do not know the first thing about Masonic corruption I should not abuse
you. Bear in mind that many of us Masons have suffered grievously and still
suffer as the result a Masonic chicanery. We don't take too kindly to people
like you who are worried about the impression we give to 'people at large'.
People at large are sick of the manner in which your hierarchy has undermined
every institution in the land.
You would not know if you had gained advantages through the Craft. You could
have been given promotion because, as a Mason, you would trust the word of
a bent Mason. However, if you care to think a bit more you will realise that
not only have you derived unfair advantage by being a Mason you will also
have bestowed the same unfair advantage on other Masons.
If you want to reply to this letter please do so by return. I will publish
your reply.
Yours fraternally and eternally,
James M Todd -o-o-o-

Extract from VOMIT 8/98 'The Masonic Crooks'

DOCTOR IAN OLIVER - GRAMPIANS CHIEF CONSTABLE

[This para. was edited as a result of legal threats,
see the download section on my index page.
Incidentally, Ian Oliver was one of the Chief-Constables who called for a
full enquiry into Masonic Police links at the Scottish Police Federation's
1997 National Conference after it emerged that Dunblane killer Thomas Hamilton
had only obtained a gun and ammunition licence because of his masonic
connections. - Tony]

Never before has a Chief Constable been so thoroughly bad- mouthed by the
establishment and by the Press. Creepy Dewar could not attack him on moral
grounds on account of the gymnastics of Cardinal Irvine (alleged seducer
of Dewar's wife), Geoffrey Robinson (alleged adulterer and personal friend
of President Blair) and Cock Robin Cook (another alleged adulterer).
One is bound to ask how the good doctor was promoted in the first place.
Doctor Oliver made only one mistake. He proscribed Masonry. This is surely
why the police authority and Dewar are putting a spin on the facts. He is
allegedly weird and mercenary. He must quit his post immediately because
the world will come to an end if he doesn't. Doctor Oliver was prepared to
go immediately provided he was compensated for loss of earnings. It will
cost ten times as much to go through the procedures for sacking him.
Freemasonry is petty, evil and vindictive. It wants to be able to say that
Doctor Oliver was sacked because he was useless. He will be sacked because
he proscribed Masonry - for no other reason.
The latest news is that Dr Oliver has silenced Dewar and the police authority
and made them keep to their agreement.
The Royal Masonic Hospital See Private Eye of 20 February
1998 at page 9. The RMH had an excellent reputation for not killing its Masonic
patients. It was financed and effectively owned by the lodges who had funded
it for years. The ordinary decent Mason had paid the piper. The Grand Lodge
had no say in the ownership and administration. This did not stop the Grand
Lodge in the form the president of the governors, the Duke of Kent who was
and is also the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, deciding
to sell the hospital. The governors took successful action in the courts.
For reasons unknown the hospital went into receivership. The lodges offered
to put up £12 million to keep it afloat. The Official Receiver and the
Charity Commissioners turned down the offer authorised its sale to a property
developers for £6 million. The property developer has already sold part
of the property for £16.8 million and still has a few acres left for
development. The developer will have no problem obtaining planning permission
and making a further gain that could exceed the profit already made.
Will you ordinary Masons please read our introduction again?
Note that the Charity Commissioners and the Official Receiver approved of
the sale. We found the Charity Commissioners guilty of the same offences
when they allowed Barclays Bank Trust Company to defraud the Combined Charities
Trust in the sale of the official cocaine distribution centre next door.
The Official Receiver has been guilty of serious offences in the Winding
Up of Bydand Limited (the highest bidder for what became the cocaine distribution
centre). We have tried to provide the Metropolitan Commissioner with information
that could lead to the discovery of other locations connected with the cocaine
trade but so far there has been no response. In due course we hope to show
that the drugs business helped to finance Lloyds Insurance Syndicates.

Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000
From: thomasharris <thomasharris@net.ntl.com>

I am not preaching, but it is hoped you will see that freemasonry is imitative
and opposite to Christianity and hence such is necessary

Background

I will attempt to explain the above with very brief reference to those aspects
which led me to it. It will also further explain how I came to visit this
particular web site. It is hoped it will be of benefit.
This is not intended to be a complete account or presentation of the information
I obtained. Its only purpose is to back up the first section of this article
and demonstrate how I came to write it. Consequently the reader may find
that I have introduced certain arguments without fully explaining their origin.
I do not offer any apologise for this. For to fully illustrate would require
a much larger volume of work and illustration in detail.
It is not my intention to mis-lead or present mis-information in any way.
What I have written is what I have found, if it is of use then please use
it. If not bin it and forget about it.

First Impressions

Early on I had read about the masonic punishments which were respectively:-
throat and tongue cutting, heart ripped from the chest, and the top of the
skull being lopped off. These related to the oaths of secrecy which every
mason takes progressing from entered apprentice to master mason. I concluded
that the first two related to the insurance of silence through robbery of
courage, which seemed to make sense. Furthermore I assumed that they referred
to physical punishment should the secrets of freemasonry be revealed. The
threat of physical violence and the fear of the same being an obvious motivator.
As to the third I held no opinion.
If physical violence were the means of ensuring secrecy there would be
innumerable documented cases the world over when the volume of masonic
'revelationary' publications are considered. Therefore it posed a question.
How does freemasonry remain so secretive?
Was it simply that there was no secret? Could it be that masons dont know
what their body represents but yet continue to join and progress through
the 33 degrees just for the ignorant bliss of it? Certainly upon requesting
to join I considered that the prospective mason may indeed be ignorant of
what he is joining.
Undoubtedly today the most common reason for joining is to enter a club which
will enhance career opportunities. Yet upon joining, the initiate is required
to swear that they seek no worldly gain. Among other things the initiates
proceed to participate in rituals, dress up in costume, memorise and recite
lines and carry out various tasks all without apparent knowledge of their
significance. All so that they may join the club.
But is ignorance a valid theory? Why would anybody progress from degree to
degree if there were nothing to learn or nothing obtained or achieved? Obviously
it is completely illogical to conclude that there is no 'secret' or at least
no embarrassing and potentially volatile revelation. How many good things
remain secret for long?
As more information was gathered it became apparent that religion, or more
specifically a declaration in the belief in God, was essential prior to joining
the freemasons. Further evidence re-inforced the idea that the freemasons
were infact based upon religious belief as opposed to being purely a
philanthropic organisation .
Most commonly, the freemasons I spoke to considered it to be a protestant
movement with some of those freemasons also being members of the orange lodge.
At first this seemed to make sense when it is considered that the Roman Catholic
Church still forbids Catholics to enter freemasonry. This comes under a ruling
which forbids any Catholic to join an organisation which is intent on doing
harm to the Catholic Church. This ruling was repealed under a supposed mix
up in the seventies. It was stated to have emerged that the bishop who repealed
it was in fact a freemason himself. It was then re-instated in 1981.
I continued my literature review. There is a huge volume of evidence to conclude
the core of freemasonry is based upon a religious movement. In most cases
Christianity is entangled with writings about freemasonry. However, particularly
by masonic publications, anti-Christian feelings and particularly anti-Catholic
feelings just ooze from the pages.
This is primarily achieved by the presentation of all sorts of alternative
religious theories which often include blatant 'misquotations' which are
out of context, the most popular source being the Bible itself. These are
twisted to suit a whole variety of scenarios. With any work as large as the
Bible it is not difficult to pick out text and piece together any message
desired.
Why should this be the case? Surely modern Christianity posed no threat to
their system of belief? Repeatedly masonic publications deny that their body
is a religious movement. Therefore, why even bother mentioning something
which they supposedly have no interest in? Was it merely a means of creating
smoke?
When considering religious issues and upon further investigation it didn't
take long to establish a catharian connection. Most of the popular books
on the subject include a reference to the cathars in one form or another.
However they do not openly say, for example, the templars were cathars and
so are the masons (it wouldn't do to antagonise the publishers if you want
many book sales). Rather the issue is described briefly or catharian principles
are discussed without reference to their catharian origin.
In one, very popular book, I was particularly interested in a brief reference
which said that they had fully discussed the templar system of beliefs in
their previous work and a cross reference was given. Upon validating the
cross reference it did not relate to the templars, rather it gave a limited
description referring to the cathars. The apparent evasiveness intrigued
me. For it was not limited to particular authors or press. What did this
mean?

The 'Old' Cathars

Well most of the records concerning the old cathars were destroyed. I will
briefly summarise what I learned of their beliefs and compare them with the
Christian concept.
The old catharians held the belief that the Old Testament was not the work
of God but rather the work of the devil .This, as far as Christians were
concerned, was/is diametrically opposed to the Christian view of the Old
Testament
The Roman Catholic Church was also a creation of the devil and Jesus was
only a man, a good man all be it. This invalidated the ultimate message of
the New Testament i.e. that Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins and was
resurrected .
They believed that man/woman was actually the creation of the devil, and
that our souls were those of the fallen angels. During their lifetime the
cathars had a choice, either they would follow or attempt to follow a righteous
path and in so doing regain their place in heaven again or they could accept
their evil nature and revel in it. If they chose the latter they would be
re-incarnated to try again in their next life. This is probably one of the
key elements. As far as I am aware the only 'unforgivable sin' in the New
Testament is to attribute the work of the Holy Spirit to the devil.
One of the given reasons they held the view that the Old Testament was not
the work of God was that they had 'tasted the fruit of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil yet lived', and did not die as was written in Genesis. As
to what this meant I was unaware. Did they literally eat little blue apples
or was this a sexual reference? Did they feel that they had experienced evil
and had overcome it on their own? The latter would have explained the term
I repeatedly came accross which said 'know ye not that ye are gods'.
They believed that man/woman was used as an instrument in a continuous battle
between good and evil. In this war evil would ultimately win.
Yet concerning the catharian god it seemed unclear. If the Old Testament
did not suit and the New Testament did not suit, then in what did they believe?
Popular sources sight the 'divine feminine'. (refer below to imitative yet
opposite)
Certainly the Roman Catholic church of old regarded the cathars as an extreme
threat. They were diametrically opposed to almost every aspect of the Catholic
faith. Consequently, and rightly or wrongly, the Albegensian Crusade was
instrumental in almost wiping them out. In this regard I wondered if it was
coincidental that the papal orders for the middle aged witch hunt and trials
were issued only 2 years after this event (certainly the worship of a 'feminine'
deity is still central to witchcraft today).
However that is the distant past.

Freemasonic Literature Today

Why should the pro-masonic literature still be so aggressive towards Christianity
today? Could it be that it is the teachings of the church which are a threat
as opposed to the establishment itself ? I looked for more clues in my literature
review to support the catharian connection.
Another popular book, named the freemasonic deity as being known as ja-baal-
on. Ja meaning Yahweh, baal and osirus. I found the linking of the Old Testament
name of Yahweh and that of baal interesting as baal has always been synonymous
with the devil. It was in line with catharian belief, that they were the
same. Yet it introduced another i.e. that of osirus, ancient egyptian deity
who was husband and brother to isis and got chopped into little bits and
consequently ruled the Egyptian underworld, isis remaining as goddess of
the Egyptians (one of the primary ones at least). Hence ja-baal-on represented
the belief that the Judaic Christian God- baal- osirus were/are one and the
same. It was apparent that this term related to the belief that one entity
was responsible for the creation of the Judaic and other religions, in particular
the ancient ones and prior to Christianity.
So it seemed to address the freemasonic fascination ancient religions which
were not only restricted to male deities, despite the nick name relating
to such, but also to female. In addition it seemed to explain the free masonic
acceptance of Judaic symbolism.
Along with naming the freemasonic deity, the author also mentioned the imitative
magic of baal. He did not go on to explain what this meant. Some form of
immoral copying? Did this relate to the punishments or was it a guiding
principle? For example, while I was aware that the cathars beliefs were
diametrically opposed to Christianity, their general behaviour is not reported
as being poor. Compared to Christianity it was both imitative in behaviour
yet opposite in faith. Could this idea be expanded?

The Theory

The theory I pursued was this. The core masonic belief was that the devil
along with the fallen angels were responsible for the creation of many ancient
religions.
From a Christian point of view this is also quite logical and indeed is
responsible for the common depiction of the devil as having goat like features
because pan had sexual intercourse with a goat, Greek mythology.
However core masonic belief venerated this principle.
Using this theory I reviewed the literature again and things started to knit
together quite nicely. However it is one thing reading about something and
being able to prove it. Therefore I started looking for some hard evidence.
Hard evidence being the operative word, because I knew that the 'freemasons'
of old had a fondness for stonemasonry and so I concentrated my search in
that direction.

Stone Masonry

One set of books attribute the legend of king Arthur as being a creation
of the templars, supposed fore runners to freemasonry. In this regard, the
sword excalibur was imbedded in stone. In the New Testament Jesus said he
came not in peace but brought a sword. I was looking for the masonic version
of the 'truth', set in stone.
I was not looking for any Christian ideal or support for the same, I was
specifically looking for the satanic/cathar connection. I found several sites
especially revealing.
One place in particular was of interest. Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland has been
attributed by many popular books as being an early building by the templars,
or at least by their sympathisers. Is it in fact of interest to freemasons
today? Certainly there are frequent masonic day trips to the place by the
bus load.
It was never recognised by the Catholic church as a place of worship, which
of course would make sense if my theory were correct. Interestingly, during
the Protestant Reformation, the surrounding castle was laid waste but the
chapel itself was not damaged. I wondered if the reason for this could have
been the revelation of an anti-Catholic message within the chapel. This would
certainly explain why the church was spared. According to documentation there
were at least discussions between the chapels guardian and the leader of
the army at the time. However the reason it was spared is not known except
for the popular notion that it was because it was so intricate and beautiful.
However this didn't stop the same army destroying some of the finest cathedrals
throughout Britain.
Upon my first visit to Rosslyn I wanted to verify the things I had read in
the books and also the photographs I had seen. By and large the books focus
on the apprentice pillar. However, in one particular and popular pro-masonic
publication, a number of things were cited which simply 'didn't fit' or weren't
there. The obvious tactic being that very few readers would actually verify
what was 'reported'? I had almost become used to such by this time, in a
literary sense. Mis-information is extremely common in this particular area
:-smoke. Yet it only served to make me more curious.
Certainly many religions are depicted there and are highlighted by the tourist
publications. Free masonic symbolism is also present and is happily described
by the information which can be bought over the tourist counter.
Are there any depiction's which could directly relate to catharian beliefs?
Many. One in particularly caught my attention, not because it was a particularly
fine example but because it was mentioned in the pro-masonic publication
I referred to above. It showed 'Moses' holding the ten commandments with
horns on his head (obviously hinting that he represented the devil). The
book referred to it in a jocular fashion asking the question why should this
be? Ho-ho very funny.
I have mentioned that numerous religions are depicted. However I was interested
in verifying my theory that the core masons held the belief that the devil
was responsible for creating the ancient religions and the Judaic. It was
not difficult. Through-out the chapel there are depiction's relating to many
religions, summarian, egyptian, celtic and probably others I havent even
heard of. The primary figure in the chapel is of the cletic fertility deity
commonly known as the green man. There are hundreds of carvings of this figure.
The most striking of which is on the eastern most wall looking down over
the altar. This in itself is significant and I will go on to explain the
significance of the location. However considering that the chapel was supposed
to represent a Christian ideal the number of such carvings seemed strange.
At this stage I was happy that my theory was reasonably sound. That is that
the core masonic belief system was one which attributed the ancient religions
and the Judaic religion to one source i.e. that of the devil. However this
was not all.
Like many people, including freemasons, I then adopted the position that
Rosslyn had a message to reveal. Therefore I used an old formula.
Traditionally churches are built with the alter towards the east, towards
God if you like. Good is traditionally on the right hand side and evil on
the left looking from the east of course. Good flows towards God and evil
away. Interestingly this approach also supported the imitative yet opposite
theme as I will go on to explain.
I attempted to piece together the 'story' told by the carvings. While I cannot
say I deciphered the place by any means, I had reasonable success and enough
to say that I am satisfied that the formulae is partially sound. Here are
some examples.
The two primary pillars were of interest in themselves. In accordance with
the mechanism I supposed that the one on the right, or north, represented
good, it being of straight and true construction and containing or restricting
some form of growing 'vine' or vegetation within. The one on the left is
literally imitative and the opposite of the other, twisted by seven serpents
at its base (the masonic seven stars) with the growing vine or vegetation
bursting forth and being the dominant feature. Indeed, in accordance 'legend'
it is said that the apprentice pillar is so named because the masters apprentice
completed it on his own while his master was away on business. Upon his return
the master was so full of rage, envy and self pride he killed the apprentice.
The legend only served to support the idea that the left hand side represented
evil. In addition there was curious damage to the foot of the pillar on the
right, consistent with kicking (the damage being reminiscent of stories of
some masonic initiations involving the kicking and spitting on the cross,
the chapel still being used by the order of the templars). Even more interesting
was the fact that this damage was active, i.e. each time I went there, there
was a little bit more damage and a little bit more stone dust on the floor.
However I wouldn't say that it was consistent with centuries of kicking.
Perhaps it is only a tourist gimmick. Perhaps it is the tourists themselves
responsible for the kicking.
On the eastern wall and to the right the devil bound and held upside down.
Towards the left an angel, unique to all others in that it doesn't wear clothing.
Instead it is covered with fur (like a beast) and apparently awakening. Further
to the left the same figure, masonic symbolism in hand rising and looking
towards the twisted apprentice pillar on the left. This figure is typically
the one quoted as showing the freemasonic symbolism although there are others
in the chapel.
The whole area around the altar is full of symbolism consistent with the
New Testament Revelations. These of course are most commonly associated with
the apocalypse and the rise and defeat of biblical beast. In this regard
it should be noted that a depiction of the masonic hiram abiff (or the
apprentice) is to the left and as far from the east as possible within the
chapel. The nature of the apprentices death and that of the masonic hiram
abiff is consistent, ie a blow to the head. Yet it is also reminiscent of
another. It is consistent with the fatal wound to one of the beasts heads
and yet it lived.
The seven sins and virtues are represented. However, curiously ,they have
been mixed up (imitative yet opposite?). The tourist information attributes
this to an error of construction. However when it is considered the amount
of time and detailed planning required for the rest of the chapels construction
this is frankly illogical.
The virtually subterranean chamber, holy of holies, on the left and past
the eastern wall, interestingly contains occult graffiti scratched into the
walls. Above the entrance to the chamber is a male and female impression
of what could arguably be the same entity (male/female aspects of the same
deity?).
Within this chamber is the curious depiction of a female form preventing
onlookers from observing the goings on within the chamber, perhaps representing
a female guardian? Regarding the feminine aspect I was also curious about
the engraved metal burial cover dedicated to one of the male protectors of
the chapel which is clearly female. There are other carvings to support this
theme together with a vast amount of written material. The principle remains
imitative yet opposite
One of the most important themes I considered throughout, as far as this
article is concerned, was that of the 'vine', or vegetation. Issuing from
a dragon/dogs mouth it entangles everything. There are numerous depiction's
of it growing and progressively engulfing a mans head until the head is
smothered. Considering the number of depiction's of the green man, a fertility
and vegetation deity, this theme seems logical. However it also reminded
me of the catharian attitude towards the tree of knowledge of good and evil
and one interpretation of the name of the supposed templar deity baphomet
- absorption into wisdom. Is this imitative yet opposite of the Christian
representation of growing faith? And is the interpretaion of the name baphomet,
imitative yet opposite in itself?
There are many examples (of course 'Moses' with horns was on the left ) but
without pictures description is pointless. It could be argued that there
are so many carvings within the chapel that a person could adopt any theory
they wanted and find supporting evidence for it.
I could go on and on, exploring Judaic legend, the masonic hiram abiff figure
head, the construction of Solomons temple and looking for and finding evidence
in stone. There is a huge amount of suggestive evidence. However, how can
something be proven when essentially the issue comes down to faith? In this
regard I will tell a personal story and what, for me, was the litmus test.
I had already burned the material and wanted to forget what it contained
as quickly as possible, it felt like I had been infected somehow. By coincidence
I was invited to a retirement party in an old Ayrshire hotel called the Bell
Isle. Whilst eating dinner I gazed at the surrounding room, particularly
the carved decorations on the wall/roof which were relatively sparse. I quickly
recognised the theme of the place as being 'Rosslynesk' if you like. I decided
to investigate further. Upon reviewing the main lobby I saw four, three to
four foot high pans, horns, hoofs and all, positioned high on the walls to
'support' the roof together with other typical catharian themes. Of course
it could be argued that in fact I had already seen those figures, however
briefly, upon my entrance and so it was only my subconscious at work. However
they are not in the usual line of sight and I certainly didn't see through
the back of my head when I entered to see a depiction of the catharian supper.
In hindsight even the name of the place should have been a clue, reminiscent
of the biblical Belial (Bell Isle).
For myself it was conclusive. I followed a theme carved in stone but which
proved to me beyond any doubt and with no ambiguity to be accurate. There
can be no mistake in interpretation when looking at great big devils. However,
I was rather disturbed and mystified that such a blatant satanic theme could
be presented in a public place.

Keeping the secret.

How has freemasonry remained so secret over such a long period of time?
Perhaps it is only that many of the lowly master masons dont yet know what
they have joined? I do believe that the majority of freemasons (master masons
3rd degree) still dont know what it represents and have no real interest
in finding out. In fact I think it is a requirement that the entered apprentice
doesn't know what they are joining when they request access, other than it
appears to be a club where hard working and honest people meet. Its a club
where they drink (an important catharian element by the way) and occasionally
get the odd career boost. I would assume this equally applies to the female
equivalent of the eastern star.
However what of the other 30 degrees? Further up the degree ladder ,and where
the money is. They must know what it is all about. Interestingly, to progress
onwards from the 3rd degree, the master mason has to be invited as opposed
to requesting advancement and automatically being able to do so.
How is it kept secret? Primarily the aged old method of propaganda and
mis-information. This is exactly what is found when researching free-masonry.
Particularly from masonic publications, written by freemasons not necessarily
printed by them. Alternative theories, poorly argued points and a whole host
of mis-leading mis-information. Smoke. The obvious tactic being to obscure
the woods with the trees. Yet is there something more?
Are its members afraid of some sort of spiritual retribution? To answer that
I took the position of a distant observer and tried to see the bigger picture.

Seeing the Woods past the Trees.

The entered apprentice requests to join a body of which they know very little
about. He proceeds to participate in what is essentially a religious ceremony
consisting of traditional quotations/ readings and actions (origin Genesis
but imitative and opposite) whilst wearing suitable costume, described by
one masonic publication, the initiate is suitably presented for sacrifice.
He is required to devote time and effort in memorising a number of passages
and signals before proceeding onto the next degree. The second and third
degrees follow a similar vain with the initiate freely and openly reciting
the material he has learned. This is all done without knowledge of its
significance or meaning. (Some masonic publications concentrate on belatedly
discovering the meaning of their 'vows'). Ultimately he participates in a
symbolic death and re-birth ceremony to become a master mason. He learns
about an 'allegorical' figure head, hiram abiff, who died while protecting
the secrets of the order and who's behaviour is supposed to serve as an example
of a fine master mason. All of this while a belief in God is a pre-requisite
for membership.
Considering the foregoing I would expect someone who so solemnly participates
in such a rituals of initiation to be precisely the sort of person who would
believe in spiritual retribution. A belief in God is also a belief in His
judgement. Yet the masonic punishments are not a Christian teaching. The
principle of the punishments themselves are self serving and exist to preserve
the secrecy of the order, not to encourage good behaviour or philanthropic
ideals.
I could not help but notice how the process of initiation is infact imitative
of the process required to become a Roman Catholic, for example. I wondered
if the symbolic death and rebirth ceremony was imitative of the Christian
Baptism but yet opposite. In this regard this ceremony takes place upon the
freemasonic symbol of the skull and crossbones. In themselves, these represent
a story of death and birth.
I will briefly explain the significance of the skull and crossbones. According
to masonic/templar legend a man had sexual intercourse with his dead sweetheart.
A voice told him to return to the grave in 9 months. He did this and found
the demonic 'birth' of the skull lying on top of the crossed bones.
In addition it could be argued that the purpose of the figure head of hiram
abiff is to be imitative yet opposite of Jesus Christ. Serving as an example
of 'good behaviour and masonic ideals' but yet remaining only a man who may
or may not have really existed. Of- course Jesus Christ is much more than
this to Christians.
Therefore, to an outsider, the whole process appears decidedly religious
but certainly not Christian. I called it as I saw it, satanic. Yet, whether
the masons themselves have 'eyes to see' this, without invitation to advance
through the degrees, is debatable. In terms of biblical reference those who
would practise such religion would be the last to 'see' the truth and this
is ironic but also imitative yet opposite.
In so many ways I found the freemasonry to be imitative of the Christian
religion which they have attacked. Imitative yet different and opposite.
Just like the opposing sides in Rosslyn chapel. Perhaps the fact that I never
considered joining them is revealing in itself. For what I have been doing
is imitative yet opposite to their approach.

Entered Apprentice Symbolism

Suggestion as to the meaning of the masonic symbolic initiation. It is understood
that the actual practises change from lodge to lodge but the essentials remain
consistent. I intend to briefly propose a theory of their meaning based upon
what I have written already, and by taking what I consider to be an imitative
yet opposite view of there origin. I am not suggesting a traditional
interpretation.
From the masonic literature I have read the following and it is entirely
taken from memory. The freemason is dressed in loose fitting white garments,
somewhat like a karate suit. Often accompanying this is at the ceremony is
lamb skin clothing. He may be initially be presented with a hangman's noose
placed around his neck, hence the source of the previous suggestion of him
being suitably prepared for sacrifice. The noose obviously representing imminent
death.
The lambs skin is imitative and opposite to the representation of Jesus Christ
being known as the Lamb of God and being the last ever Christian sacrifice.
It is also imitative and opposite to the foretelling of the coming of the
womans seed which will crush the serpents head, Jesus Christ. It is also
imitative and opposite in this sense because the entered apprentice has freely
given himself to the serpent who is lying in wait for her heel.
The suggestion of death is imitative and opposite of the serpents promise
to Eve that she would not die the death if she tasted the fruit of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil.
He bares his left breast. This is imitative yet opposite of the punishment
of the serpent which would forever lie upon his breast and eat the earth,
the left breast obviously representing the evil nature of the serpent.
He bares his left leg below the knee. This is imitative and opposite of the
serpent lying in wait for the womans heel, the foretelling of the coming
of Christ.
He bares his right arm. This is imitative yet the opposite of God admonishing
Adam incase he should reach with his hand and taste also of the Tree of Life
and live forever.
Both the hand and the heel in this sense are bared because they are coming
'under attack' by the deity. The serpent is attacking the heel of the womans
seed, the entered apprentice, and at the same time is supposedly removing
the chance of eternal life.
Regarding the punishments, the entered apprentices heart is 'measured' by
dividers. Yet whether there is any measurement, considering their deity would
be highly questionable.
I think this covers the primary aspects of the initiation of the entered
apprentice, who subsequently requests advancement onto the next two degrees.
After this time he must be invited to explore the 'mysteries of freemasonry'.
Most importantly, all of this is represented in Genesis Chapter 3, only one
and a half pages long, which concerns the creation of man and the 'serpents
craft' . This is at the very beginning of the Bible and supports the assertion
of the religious ignorance of the entered apprentice.

The 'Sublime Master Mason'

Regarding the free-mason himself. I feel that the entered apprentice has
probably committed the greatest act of folly he will ever complete during
his lifetime. I feel that the order is dependent upon the religious ignorance
of the initiate and the continued ignorance of the majority of the master
masons. This is not to say that they are stupid, for I feel that if they
objectively analysed their position and the body to which they belong then
many would in fact leave.
As for those who progress further through the masonic degrees I wonder how
'free' they may consider themselves to be.
Are they bad people? I wouldn't go that far.

Why did I visit this site?

This brings me back to the masonic punishments. Freemasonic literature describes
in a romantic fashion how the master masons actions and thoughts are seen
and continually 'judged' by the all seeing eye of their deity. While as a
Christian I can accept such a principal I was also satisfied that the freemasonic
religion was not based upon Christian ideals. Therefore I was again curious
as to what that meant in the free masonic concept.
I had long since ruled out the idea of the freemasonic punishments being
of a physical nature. Therefore that left only spiritual and it had to be
unpleasant. What could the lopping off of the top of a skull represent? The
answer seemed obvious i.e. access to the innermost feelings and thoughts
of a person against their will. The ultimate rape. Through which a person
is robbed of courage and a voice.
In this regard I was reminded of the utilisation of the immoral imitative
magic of baal. Was this also a reference to the punishments? Immoral imitation
of thought or action by the freemasonic deity?
There are indeed carvings in Rosslyn of heads, a young mans, with their skulls
lopped off, perhaps significantly, the most prominent being on the eastern
wall. Whether this was as originally carved or has been done since construction
is unknown, perhaps it was accidental or perhaps it was done as part of a
ceremony, but it is not isolated to one carving.
Obviously there could be some comparisons drawn between this idea and this
condition. That was precisely the reason I visited this site, looking for
some sort of similarity and information to develop this idea further. However
I must point out and emphasise that while I am satisfied that the top of
the skull being lopped off represents a spiritual masonic punishment, the
nature of such is purely speculation on my part.
I am not suggesting that this condition is in any way a result of the occult.
I visited this site and others to gain information on how such a spiritual
and essentially psychological attack could be described and envisaged. In
so doing I realised some truths regarding the occult issue in general which
I wished to share and have included within the first portion of this article.
It is hoped that by considering some of the issues raised it will help to
resolve and deter further occult investigation.

The 'Lost Secret of Freemasonry'

This is a term I repeatedly came accross. Many of the masonic and other
publications delve into alternative theories and interpretations of the Bible
and spend a great deal of time and effort researching ancient religions.
All in the attempt to find the lost secret or the lost 'word' of freemasonry.
They propose and no doubt hope for some mystical revelation, for those with
'eyes to see', as they like to consider themselves.
The secret of freemasonry is very simple and is open for anybody to see with
a little bit of objectivity and Christian faith. However, this secret is
lost to the freemason himself when he requests membership and participates
in the rituals of initiation.
He sucumbs to searching for the woods by looking at the individual trees,
and is blinkered. He cant see the big picture.
There is no secret. Freemasonry is imitative and opposite to Christianity.
This theme applies to almost every aspect of the material I reviewed, the
stone carvings I found, the freemasonic symbolism and even applies to the
supposed templar/freemasonic deity baphomet. Both in interpretation of its
name, absorption into wisdom and the 'means of redemption' at the hands of
the same, ie labour for men and bearing children for women.

Conclusion

Despite protests to the contrary, freemasonry is a religious movement at
its very core. Whether, this is acknowledged by the lowly master mason is
irrelevant, as there is overwhelming documentation to prove otherwise.
The body is sustained due to the religious ignorance of the initiates and
master masons, which are by far the majority.
At its core it represents an imitative and opposite view of Christianity.
This core represents the minority, not the majority.
It is like a bad apple, rotten on the inside and apparently luscious on the
outside. Once it has been really and deeply tasted, the masonic truth is
revealed.
As far as I am concerned, it does disturb me to think that many freemasons
are in public service. While I would not deny them of the opportunity to
work in this area I think that the general public should at least be aware
of who has joined 'the club' or any 'secret society' for that matter. I certainly
would not vote for a person who, in my opinion, has so demonstrably acted
in such an irresponsible manner, especially if they were middle aged and
old enough to know better (as many entered apprentices are).
Regarding Rosslyn Chapel, it should be pointed out that it is infact used
today as a Christian place of worship. In addition to this, the order of
the templars still use the chapel for their own purposes.
Absorption into 'wisdom'.

Notice of Resignation from the Masonic Lodge

Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ.
When I was initiated into Freemasonry, I was led to believe that my involvement
would not interfere with my duty to God. Yet, I was led through three blood
oaths in the three degrees of the Blue Lodge which are in direct violation
of the commandment of Jesus Christ found in Matthew 5:33-37.
I have since come to realize that Freemasonry is a "Fraternal Order" which
has a plan of salvation. The Masonic plan of salvation does not require faith
in Jesus Christ, but rather depends on imitating Hiram Abiff. At many places,
Masonic ritual encourages Masons to believe that they will go to heaven.
Consider the Covering of a Lodge: it is "a clouded canopy or star-decked
heaven where all good Masons hope at last to arrive." Consider the Three
Steps ". . .as Master Masons, we may enjoy the happy reflections consequent
on a well-spent life, and die in the hope of a glorious immortality. " Consider
the prayer just before Hiram is raised: "Yet, O Lord! have compassion on
the children of Thy creation; and administer them comfort in time of trouble,
and save them with an everlasting salvation." With all of this, Freemasonry
is encouraging Master Masons to believe that they will go to heaven when
they die. But just who are Master Masons? They include Hindus, Moslems, Buddhists
and men of many other religions which reject the claims of Jesus. Freemasonry
is encouraging false hope in unsaved men. Just after Hiram is raised, ritual
tells us that we should imitate Hiram Abiff so that we can welcome death
and get into heaven. The Bible is clear. John 14:6 contains the words of
Jesus. He said "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the
father but by me." It is obvious that Freemasonry is not following the teachings
of Jesus, because ritual encourages lost souls that they will get into heaven.
Ritual suggests imitation of Hiram Abiff as the way to the Celestial Lodge
above. The book of 2 John verse 9 states: "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God." When coupled with the fact
that Masonic ritual teaches salvation on the basis of imitating Hiram Abiff,
rather than Faith in Jesus Christ, it is clear from this verse that the Masonic
Lodge does not have God. The GAOTU cannot be the God of the Bible, because
it rejects the claims of His Son.
I know that many of you profess to be Christians. I would like to encourage
each of you to examine and pray about the contents of Masonic ritual. As
Christians, can we take part in an organization which teaches salvation without
Jesus? Galatians 1:8-9 makes it clear that the penalty for teaching a false
plan of salvation is condemnation. I encourage you to prayerfully consider
these things.
The oaths which I took are null and void. God has released me from ,them.
Leviticus 5:4-6 make it clear that when something is hidden from a man and
he takes an oath thoughtlessly, he is guilty of sin. When he recognizes it
as sin, he may be released from it by confessing it as sin and claiming the
promise found in 1 John 1:8-9.
I want you to know that I am not rejecting you as individuals, however I
am totally rejecting Freemasonry. I want nothing more to do with it, now,
or at any time in the future. I do not want a demit, which allows joining
another lodge. I am no longer a Mason.
I encourage each of you to get out of the Lodge. I pray that my involvement
in Freemasonry will not result in the loss of anyone's soul because he believed
the promises in ritual. The Masonic plan of salvation is a ticket to hell.
I encourage each of you to read the Book of John in your Masonic Bible. Read
it again and again, until you know the truth.
In Jesus,

I am free to name only a small number of the many hundreds of people who
have helped me with advice and information. Most of those who helped did
so only on the understanding that I would say nothing that could lead to
their identification. Among these were many Freemasons who feared recrimination
from other members of the Brotherhood. Others included government officials,
politicians, judges, policemen of all ranks, lawyers, churchmen, past and
present officers of MI5 and MI6, and people from every sector of society
touched on in the book.

In England, the rank of barrister-at-law is conferred exclusively by four
unincorporated bodies in London, known collectively as the Honourable Societies
of the Inns of Court. The four Inns, established between 1310 and 1357, are
Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple. Prior
to the establishment of the latter two Inns, the Temple, which lies between
Fleet Street and the River Thames, was the headquarters of the Knights Templar,
declared heretics by King Philip IV of France and wiped out during the early
fourteenth century. There is a modern day Order of Knights Templar within
British Freemasonry which claims direct descent from the medieval order.
From the beginning the men of law were linked with Freemasonry.

Sporle, now dead, was a corrupt man who used the Lodge at Wandsworth unashamedly
for setting up crooked deals. Among seven charges of corruption for which
he was later jailed for six years, Sporle was found guilty of taking a job
from T. Dan Smith, PR man and fellow conspirator of architect John Poulson.
It is generally thought that Smith, who did so much to further the interests
of Poulson (himself known to have exploited his masonic membership at every
opportunity), was also a member of the Brotherhood. According to what he
told me, and I have no reason to disbelieve him, he is not and never has
been a Freemason, however. This is what he said when we met for a cup of
tea at the Charing Cross Hotel: 'People have always assumed that I am a Mason,
so gradually I found the way they shook hands and the way they made the next
move - and because I virtually detested them (for no reason other than I
hate that sort of organization) I always used to give them the handshake
back. Still do. I met a journalist last week from the Daily Mirror.
He gave me a Freemasonic handshake and I gave him one, and he said, "Oh,
you're on the Square." He said, "As you're on the Square, why didn't you
pass the money to Ted Short that way.
'I said, "Well, how do you do it that way?" He said, "Very simply. You
just pass it through the organization."'
Edward Short, MP for Newcastle Central, was an old friend of Smith's and
a Freemason. He accepted £500.00 from Smith 'for the work you have done
on behalf of the firm'. The DPP later considered prosecuting Short for accepting
a bribe but decided there was no case to answer. Eleven years after the event,
when it all came out, Short, by then deputy Prime Minister and Leader of
the House, astonished Parliament by not resigning despite dissatisfaction
with his explanation.
There are clues that there is a well-established system within Freemasonry
for passing money untraceably from one Mason to another. No fewer than seven
informants within the brotherhood as well as T. Dan Smith on the outside
have told me of the system.

In the ritual of exaltation, the name of the Great Architect of the Universe
[The Freemason's god] is revealed as JAH-BUL-ON - not a general umbrella
term but a precise designation that describes a specific supernatural being
- a compound deity composed of three separate personalities fused in one.
Each syllable of the 'ineffable name' represents one personality of this
Trinity:

Baal, of course, was the 'false god' with whom Jahweh competed for the allegiance
of the Isrealites in the Old Testament. But more recently, within a hundred
years of the creation of the Freemason's god, the sixteenth century demonologist
John Weir identified Baal as a devil. This grotesque manifestation of evil
had the body of a spider and three heads - those of a man, a toad, and a
cat. A description of Baal to be found in de Plancy's Dictionary of Witchcraft
is particularly apposite when considered in the light of the secretive and
deceptive nature of Freemasonry: his voice was raucous, and he taught his
followers guile, cunning and the ability to become invisible.

There is an Elite group of Freemasons in England over whom the United Grand
Lodge has no jurisdiction. These are the brethren of the so-called Higher
Degrees, and even the majority of Freemasons have no idea of their
existence.
Most Freemasons who have been raised to the 3rd Degree to become Master Masons
believe they are at the top of the masonic ladder. As novices they were Entered
Apprentices. They were then 'passed' as Fellow Craft Masons and finally 'raised'
as Masters. The very name Master has connotations of supremity. If Master
Masons have ambition it will usually be to achieve office within their Lodge
- eventually, with good fortune and the passing of years, to become Worshipful
Master of their mother Lodge (the Lodge to which they were first initiated
into Masonry). Those who have their eyes fixed on higher office will aim
for rank in their Provincial Grand Lodge or in the United Grand Lodge itself.
But even the Grand Master of all England is only a Freemason of the 3rd Degree.
The three Craft degrees form the entire picture of Masonry for most of the
600,000 'uninitiated initiates' of the Brotherhood in England and Wales.

3º Master Mason
2º Fellow Craft
1º Entered Apprentice

The 'Masters', who form the largest proportion of Freemasons, are in most
cases quite unaware of the thirty superior degrees to which they will never
he admitted, nor even hear mentioned. This is the real picture, with the
three lowly degrees governed by Grand Lodge and the thirty higher degrees
governed by a Supreme Council.
These thirty degrees, beginning with the 4th (that of Secret Master) and
culminating in the 33rd (Grand Inspector General), are controlled by a Supreme
Council whose headquarters are at 10 Duke Street, St James's London SWI.
Nobody walking down Duke Street from Piccadilly is likely to suspect the
true nature of what goes on inside the building, even if he or she happens
to notice the small plate to the right of the entrance which says, 'The Supreme
Council. Ring once'. Built in 1910-11, this imposing Edwardian mansion with
fine neo-classical features might easily be taken for a consulate or the
headquarters of some private institute. Nor do people thumbing through the
S-Z section of the London Telephone Directory get any clue from the entry
sandwiched between Supreme Cleaners and Supreme Die Cutter 'Supreme Council
33rd Degree ... 01-930 1606'.
Nobody looking at that fine but anonymous house from outside could suspect
that behind its pleasing facade, beyond the two sets of sturdy double doors
and up the stairs there is a Black Room, a Red Room and a Chamber of Death..
To high Masons, the house in Duke Street known as the Grand East.
Members of Craft Freemasonry - that is, all but a few thousand of England's
Masons - often argue that Freemasonry is not a secret society but a society
with secrets. Although the argument is in the end unconvincing, it has its
merits. But no such case can be made out for the wealthy society-within-a-society
based at 10 Duke Street.

[Quote: There is no Degree higher then that of Master Mason.. Once a MM a
man can go on to join the Appendant Bodies like York Rite & Scottish
Rite that have higher number Degrees but none has a higher position then
the Third Degree of the Blue Lodge. from Manny at
MasonTruth@aol.com]

One of the regulations of ordinary Craft Freemasonry is that no Mason may
invite an outsider to join. Anyone wishing to become a Freemason must take
the initiative and seek two sponsors from within the Brotherhood [This, at
least, is the theory - and United Grand Lodge staunchly maintains that it
is the practice. In reality most Entered Apprentices are recruited by existing
Masons they know personally]. The position is reversed for Freemasons of
the 3rd Degree who wish to be elevated to the Higher Degrees. Initiation
open only to those Master Masons who are selected by the Supreme Council.
If a representative of the Supreme Council establishes a contact with a Master
Mason and concludes that he is suitable, the Candidate will be offered the
chance of being 'perfected' and setting the first foot the ladder to the
33rd Degree. But only a small proportion even of the limited number of Freemasons
who take first step, progress beyond the 18th Degree, that of Knight of the
Pelican and Eagle and Sovereign Prince Rose Croix of Heredom. With each Degree,
the number of initiates diminishes. The 31st Degree (Grand Inspector Inquisitor
Commander) is restricted to 400 members; the 32nd (Sublime Prince of the
Royal Secret) to 180; and the 33rd - the pre-eminent Grand Inspectors General
- to only 75 members.

One of my major sources of information was a former Grand Inspector Inquisitor
Commander of the Thirty-First Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite who
had withdrawn from Masonry in 1968 for religious reasons. As with so many
other people in the labyrinthine world of Freemasonry, I was led to him by
way of a series of contacts, He agreed through a third party to he interviewed
by me concerning his conviction that no active Christian could in all conscience
remain a Freemason.
When I met him I learned that he was a judge, and a particularly quick-tempered
one. Although I had heard of him, I had hitherto known little about him.
We spent a long time talking about Masonry and religion, but after a while
I began to ask him about the Ancient and Accepted Rite of the Thirty-Third
Degree. He was, after all, only the fourth initiate to the Rite who had agreed
to see me. He answered quickly. 'No, I dare not go into that,' he said. 'We'd
better stick with religion.' It seemed a perfectly normal answer - I had
received many such replies over the months of my investigation. It sounded
like the usual rebuff. But I thought immediately afterwards how strange it
was that he had used the words 'dare not'. Most people said, 'I'd better
not', or 'I'd rather not'. I remarked on his use of the word. He said, Anyone
in public life has to be cautious.'
'Cautious,' I repeated. 'That's a masonic word of recognition.'
'You've obviously delved into the ritual, so you know,' he said. 'But I mean
cautious in the sense everybody understands it.'
'What must you be cautious about?'
'Mr Knight, I don't like this line of questioning. I agreed to speak to you
in general terms about why my commitment to Jesus is incompatible with the
masonic religion. I do not wish to be drawn into discussion of matters covered
by whatever undertakings I have ... taken.'
'By undertakings, do you mean masonic oaths?'
He paused. 'Yes, I do. I prefer the word obligation to oath. It's not the
same.'
I remember thinking as I turned the conversation back on to the track I wanted
it to follow that it would be interesting later on to return to this question
of the distinction between an obligation and an oath. I never did.
'Why do you have to be cautious, careful', I said. 'You're not a Mason any
more. I've got copies of all the rituals of the 4th to 33rd degree. There
is no obligation which could possibly be interpreted to forbid you from telling
me what you meant when you used the word "dare" in an ordinary
conversation.'
This isn't about my religious convictions, is it?'
'Many of your former masonic colleagues are very powerful people in this
country. Do you think there would be some kind of reprisal if you gave away
any secrets?'
'Not of the kind you write about in your book about Jack the Ripper.' He
laughed. A bit hollowly, I thought.
'Well, not murder, no, I wouldn't have thought so.' I, too, laughed. I felt
oddly embarrassed. 'But there is some kind of reprisal to be feared then?
Something more ... subtle?'
He began to look angry. He had made a slip. 'That was a figure of sp-- I
was making a joke. A very bad joke.'
'But you said-'
'I know, I know! And I do not believe for one moment that what you suggest
in your book has happened in real life - then or ever.'
I could see the rattled ex-Mason automatically slipping back into the practice
of a lifetime. Sometimes you shall divert a discourse, and manage it prudently
for the honour of the worshipful fraternity. I would not be diverted into
defending the evidence and arguments in my first book. I felt I was close
to something. I pressed on.
'Leaving murder aside, can I ask you . . .' And then it hit me. 'Can I ask
you, as a Christian, have you ever seen at first hand any sort of reprisals
carried out by Freemasons using masonic influence against any non-Freemason
or anti-Freemason?'
All at once, he seemed to relax, or to somehow collapse into a smaller man
as he let all the anger go out of him. 'As a Christian . . .' He paused
thoughtfully, and I noticed how very many times he blinked his eyes during
this hiatus. I wondered at one point if he was praying for guidance. He drew
a long, slow, deep breath. 'As a Christian, I have to tell you that I have
never in my whole life witnessed or heard about a single act of hostility
by a Freemason or group of Freemasons that was sanctioned by Grand Lodge
or Supreme Council' He looked at me significantly as he laid stress on that
qualifying clause. 'There,' he said. 'I have said nothing which betrays my
obligations.'
'I have heard from quite a lot of contacts about organized action by groups
of Freemasons that have resulted in the financial or social ruin of certain
people,' I said.
So have I,' he said, still looking me straight in the eye as if telling me
this was important. 'So have I, Mr Knight.' 'Have you any direct knowledge
of such happenings?'
'Not of such happenings which had the backing of official Freemasonry.'
'But of action which was unofficial? In other words, Masons abusing the Craft
for their own ends?'
'You know the answer to that, from the way I have said what I have said.'
'I have also heard about people who have "crossed" certain Masons and finished
up in prison . ...'
He stopped me in mid-sentence by placing a finger on his lips.
'If I told you everything I know about Freemasonry being betrayed by its
members, it would surprise even you,' he said. 'It would make your hair stand
on end. I can't tell you any more.' Then, as if it was an afterthought, but
I don't believe it was, he said, 'Give me your phone number. You might hear
from someone in a few days.' I gave him the number. 'Who?' I said.
The finger went back to his lips and he went to fetch my coat.
'God bless,' he said as I left, and I ran pell-mell to a sandwich bar in
nearby Chancery Lane to scribble down the notes on which this account of
our meeting has been based.
Four days later I received a phone call from a man who told me he had seen
my advertisement for people with information about Freemasonry in an old
copy of the New Statesman (This advertisement had appeared for four weeks
in the summer of 1981, some nine months earlier). He said he had read my
Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution and would very much like to meet me.
I tried, as I tried with all my callers, to get him to say something concrete
on the phone, but he would not even tell me whether or not he was a Mason.
I had already received a dozen or so similar calls, some of which had proved
useful, some wild goose chases. But the researcher's world is the natural
habitat of wild geese and red herrings, and one accepts the necessity of
chasing them. Despite his unwillingness to talk - perhaps, in a way, because
of it - I arranged to meet him the following Saturday in the vestibule of
the Cafe Royal. From there we would go to his club. He said his name was
Christopher. Whether this was his Christian name or his surname I didn't
know.
When I arrived, he was sitting in the armchair to the right of the fireplace,
just inside the entrance, smoking a small cigar in a holder and reading that
day's Times. He was tall, more than six feet, slim and aged about fifty.
Everything about him spoke of affluence, except his plain National Health
Service glasses. We went to his club, which he pledged me not to name as
it could be used to identify him. It turned out that Christopher was one
of his three Christian names and that he was a very senior Civil Servant
in Whitehall. He had contacted me, he said, not as a result of seeing the
New Statesman advertisement - although he had seen it when it appeared -
but at the request of my cautious Christian Judge. He asked me what I wanted
to know. I said I took it that he was a Freemason. He nodded and took some
papers out of his slimline briefcase. He wanted me to be in no doubt as to
his bona fides.
After examining the papers I told him I was interested to know what a person
might have to fear from a group of influential Freemasons if circumstances
made him, for instance, a threat to them in the business world; or if he
discovered they were using Masonry for corrupt purposes; or had fallen a
victim of their misuse of Freemasonry and would not heed warnings not to
oppose them.
'It is not difficult to ruin a man,' he said. 'And I will tell you how it
is done time and again. There are more than half a million brethren under
the jurisdiction of Grand Lodge.
Standards have been falling for twenty or thirty years. It is too easy to
enter the Craft, so many men of dubious morals have joined. The secrecy and
power attract such people, and when they come the decent leave. The numbers
of people who would never have been considered for membership in the fifties
are getting larger all the time. If only five per cent of Freemasons use
- abuse - the Craft for selfish or corrupt ends it means there are 25,000
of them. The figure is much closer to twelve or thirteen per cent now.'
It transpired that Christopher was one of a small and unpopular group within
Masonry who some time in the early seventies had decided that either they
had to get out of the Brotherhood or they had to do something 'to stop the
rot' which the blinkered officers of Great Queen Street refused to admit
was there. His reason for talking to me was to assure me that the Brotherhood
was an essentially good body of men devoted to all that was best in the British
social system and which promoted brotherly love and contributed to the wellbeing
of the country and to the relief of suffering. He wanted this put firmly
across to the public, and his group wanted pressure brought to bear on those
in positions of responsibility within the Brotherhood to put Freemasonry's
house in order - to institute proper policing, to close down Lodges used
for shady dealings and to root out corrupt brethren and expel them. The group
- it had no name - also wanted the whole business of masonic secrecy looked
into by Grand Lodge, most of them believing that secrecy was more harmful
than helpful to Masonry.
Christopher explained that Masonry's nationwide organization of men from
most walks of life provided one of the most efficient private intelligence
networks imaginable. Private information on anybody in the country could
normally be accessed very rapidly through endless permutations of masonic
contacts - police, magistrates, solicitors, bank managers, Post Office staff
('very useful in supplying copies of a man's mail'), doctors, government
employee bosses of firms and nationalized industries etc., etc. dossier of
personal data could be built up on anybody very quickly. When the major facts
of an individual's life were known, areas of vulnerability would become apparent.
Perhaps he is in financial difficulties; perhaps he has some social vice
- if married he might 'retain a mistress' or have proclivity for visiting
prostitutes; perhaps there is something in his past he wishes keep buried,
some guilty secret, a criminal offence (easily obtainable through Freemason
police of doubtful virtue), or other blemish on his character: all these
and more could be discovered via the wide-ranging masons network of 600,000
contacts, a great many of whom were disposed to do favours for one another
because that had been their prime motive for joining. Even decent Masons
could often be 'conned' into providing information on the basis that 'Brother
Smith needs this to help the person involved'. The adversary would even sometimes
be described as a fellow Mason to the Brother from whom information was sought
perhaps someone with access to his bank manager or employer. The 'good' Mason
would not go to the lengths of checking with Freemasons Hall whether or not
this was so. The 'target' was presented as a Brother in distress by a fellow
Mason, especially a fellow Lodge member, that would be enough for any upright
member of the Craft.
[I discovered from other sources that this system has been long established
within Masonry for the 'legitimate' purpose of bringing succour to a distressed
Brother Mason or to the family of a departed Mason. It is common for details
of a Freemason's debts, for instance, to be passed to his Lodge by his masonic
bank manager. This 'invasion of privacy' is for no more sinister reason than
for his brethren to club together and pay off his debts. This occurs most
often after the death of a Mason, but by no means always. And this, apparently,
is just one example of the many methods by which Freemasons obtain information
about each other for genuine purposes.]
Sometimes this information gathering process - often involving a long chain
of masonic contacts all over the country and possibly abroad - would be
unnecessary. Enough would be known in advance about the adversary to initiate
any desired action against him.
I asked how this 'action' might be taken.
'Solicitors are very good at it,' said Christopher. 'Get your man involved
in something legal - it need not be serious - and you have him.' Solicitors,
I was told, are 'past masters' at causing endless delays, generating useless
paperwork, ignoring instructions, running up immense bills, misleading clients
into taking decisions damaging to themselves.
Masonic police can harass, arrest on false charges, and plant evidence. 'A
businessman in a small community or person in public office arrested for
dealing in child pornography, for indecent exposure, or for trafficking in
drugs is at the end of the line,' said Christopher. 'He will never work again.
Some people have committed suicide after experiences of that kind.'
Masons can bring about the situation where credit companies and banks withdraw
credit facilities from individual clients and tradesmen, said my informant.
Bank can foreclose. People who rely on the telephone for their work can be
cut off for long periods. Masonic employees of local authorities can arrange
for a person's drains to be inspected and extensive damage to be reported,
thus burdening the person with huge repair bills; workmen carrying out the
job can 'find' - In reality cause - further damage. Again with regard to
legal matters, a fair hearing is hard to get when a man in ordinary circumstances
is in financial difficulties. If he is trying to fight a group of unprincipled
Freemasons skilled in using the 'network' it will be impossible because masonic
Department of Health and Social Security and Law Society officials (see pp
189-90) can delay applications for Legal Aid endlessly.
'Employers, if they are Freemasons or not, can be given private information
about a man who has made himself an enemy of Masonry. At worst he will be
dismissed (if the information is true) or consistently passed over for
promotion.'
Christopher added, 'Masonic doctors can also be used. But for some reason
doctors seem to be the least corruptible men. There are only two occurrences
of false medical certificates issued by company doctors to ruin the chances
of in individual getting a particular job which I know about. It's not a
problem that need greatly worry us like the rest.'
He continued for about half an hour to list examples of the ways in which
corrupt members of the Brotherhood could defeat opposition, repeating every
few minutes that these kinds of circumstances involved a minority of the
brethren and that most would be utterly appalled at even the suggestion that
such things were happening, let alone countenance them. ' That they were
happening at all reflected the deterioration of the Craft inasmuch as its
entry requirements were no longer stringent enough. Those in power in Freemasons
Hall knew something of what went on, but they felt defeated by it and preferred
to look the other way rather than take steps to eradicate it. If Christopher
and his group failed to force the issue into the open, he said, the organization
would become so morally polluted that it would simply cease to exist. But
he was not solely concerned with the Brotherhood. It was the victims of those
who used Masonry as a source of personal power who had to be helped as
well.
'Only the fighters have any hope of beating the system once it's at work
against them,' he told me. 'Most people, fighters or not, are beaten in the
end, though. It's . . . you see, I ... you finish up not knowing who you
can trust. You can get no help because your story sounds so paranoid that
you are thought a crank, one of those nuts who think the whole world is a
conspiracy against them. It is a strange phenomenon. By setting up a situation
that most people will think of as fantasy, these people can poison every
part of a person's life. If they give in they go under. If they don't give
in It's only putting off the day because if they fight, so much unhappiness
will be brought to the people around them that there will likely come a time
when even their families turn against them out of desperation. When that
happens and they are without friends wherever they look, they become easy
meat. The newspapers will not touch them'.
'There is no defence against an evil which only the victims and the perpetrators
know exists.'

Information For Candidates
(from The Universal Book of Craft Masonry)
Appendix One

Freemasonry consists of a body of men banded together to preserve the secrets,
customs and ceremonials handed down to them, from time immemorial, and for
the purpose of mutual intellectual, social and moral improvement. They also
endeavour to cultivate and exhibit brotherly love, relief and truth, not
only to one another, but to the world at large.
Freemasonry offers no pecuniary advantages whatever, neither does there exist
any obligation nor implied understanding binding one Mason to deal with another,
nor to support him in any way in the ordinary business relations of life.
Freemasonry teaches us to remember our common origin; it also distinctly
enjoins us to respect all social distinctions, so that while some must rule,
others must obey and cheerfully accept their inferior positions.
Freemasonry has certain charities, but it is not in any sense whatever a
benefit society, nor is it based on any calculations which would render this
possible. The charities are solely for those who having been in good
circumstances have been overtaken by misfortune or adversity, and they are
quite insufficient to meet even these demands now made upon them.
Freemasonry distinctly teaches that a man's first duty is to himself, his
wife, his family and his connections, and no one should join the Order who
cannot well afford to pay the initiation fees and subscriptions to his Lodge
as well as to the Masonic charities, and this without detriment in any way
to his comfort, or to that of those who have any claim upon his support.
Freemasonry recognises no distinctions of religion, but none should attempt
to enter who have no religious belief, as faith in a Deity must be expressed
before any can be initiated, and prayers to Him form a frequent part of the
ritual.
Freemasonry, therefore, demands that everyone, before offering himself as
a candidate, should be well assured in his own mind:

1. That he sincerely desires the intellectual and moral improvement of himself
and his fellow creatures, and that he is willing to devote part of his time,
means and efforts to the promotion of brotherly love, relief and trust.
2. That he seeks no commercial, social nor pecuniary advantages.
3. That he is able to afford the necessary expenditure without injury to
himself or connections.
4. That he is willing to enter into solemn obligations in the sight of his
God.

Each Lodge elects the following officers every year:Worshipful Master Chairman of the Lodge.Immediate Past Master Last year's Worshipful Master. Senior Warden Personal officer of WM; next year's WM in most
lodges.Junior Warden Personal officer of WM and next in seniority. Chaplain The officer who conducts prayers. Can be a man of any profession
in the outside world, not necessarily a clergyman.Treasurer The senior officer in charge of the Lodge funds.SecretaryDirector of Ceremonies In charge of the ritual element of Lodge
business.Senior Deacon The Deacons - with their wands - play an important
part in Lodge ritual, including acting the role of messengers.Junior Deacon Charity Steward. Officer in charge of the Lodge's donations to
charity.Almoner Officer in charge of collecting and spending the Lodge's
benevolent funds.Assistant Director of Ceremonies Self-explanatory.Inner Guard Officer who guards the door of the Lodge on the inside
and ensures that only Freemasons enter. Tyler The outer guard who stands outside the Lodge door with a dagger
as the first line of defence against non-Masons trying to enter.

APPENDIX THREEInitiation to the First Degree up to the end of
the Obligation

The Tyler prepares the Candidate in a room outside the Lodge room where he
is to be initiated by divesting him of all metal articles. The Candidate
removes his outer clothing until he stands ' in socks, his left shoe, trousers
and shirt only. His shirt is unbuttoned to reveal his left breast, his right
sleeve is rolled up to reveal the elbow, his left trouser leg is rolled up
above the knee and a slipper is placed on his unshod foot. A hangman's noose
is then placed around his neck, the end of the rope hanging down behind him.
He is blindfolded.
He is then led by the Tyler to the door of the Lodge and the Tyler knocks.
The Inner Guard, moving with the prescribed step and making the First Degree
sign, says, 'Brother junior Warden, there is a report.' After several ritual
responses, the Inner Guard opens the door and asks the Tyler, 'Whom have
you there?'
'Mr John Smith, a poor Candidate in a state of darkness,' says the Tyler,
'who has been well and worthily recommended, regularly proposed and approved
in open Lodge, and now comes of his own free will and accord, properly prepared,
humbly soliciting to be admitted to the mysteries and privileges of
Freemasonry.'
There follow several repetitions exchanges, the Inner Guard places the point
of a dagger to the Candidate's left breast. He is asked, 'Do you feel anything?
'Yes.'
The Inner Guard raises the dagger in the air, and the still blindfolded Candidate
is led by the right hand by the junior Deacon to the kneeling-stool before
the Worshipful Master, who then addresses the Candidate for the first time.
'Mr John Smith, as no person can be made a Mason unless he is free and of
mature age, I demand of you, are you a free man and of the full age of twenty-one
years?' 'I am.'
'Thus assured, I will thank you to kneel, while the blessing of Heaven is
invoked on our proceedings.'
The Candidate kneels. The Brethren move in the prescribed manner, the Lodge
Deacons crossing their wands above the Candidate's head, while the Worshipful
Master or the Chaplain prays aloud, 'Vouchsafe Thine aid, Almighty Father
and Supreme Governor of the Universe, to our present convention and grant
that this Candidate for Freemasonry may so dedicate and devote his life to
Thy service, as to become a true and faithful Brother among us. Endue him
with a competency of Thy Divine Wisdom, so that, assisted by the secrets
of our masonic art, he may be the better enabled to unfold the beauties of
true Godliness, to the honour and glory of Thy Holy Name.'
The Immediate Past Master says or sings, 'So mote it be.'
'Mr Smith,' continues the Worshipful Master, 'in all cases of difficulty
and danger, in whom do you put your trust?', and the Candidate replies, 'In
God.'
'Right glad I am to find your faith so well founded. Relying on such sure
support you may safely rise and follow your leader with a firm but humble
confidence, for where the name of God is invoked we trust no danger can
ensue.
The Candidate rises to his feet with the help of the Deacons. The Worshipful
Master and the Brethren sit. The Worshipful Master then gives a single knock
with his gavel. 'The Brethren from the north, east, south and west will take
notice that Mr John Smith is about to pass in view before them, to show that
he is the Candidate properly prepared, and a fit and proper person to be
made a Mason,' says the Master.
There then follows various ritual motions and the Candidate is led in a
procession around the Lodge. Arriving at the place where the junior Warden
stands, the junior Deacon takes the Candidate's right hand and taps the junior
Warden's right shoulder with it three times. The junior Warden asks, 'Whom
have you there?' 'Mr John Smith,' replies the junior Deacon, 'A poor Candidate
in a state of darkness, who has been well and worthily recommended, regularly
proposed and approved in open Lodge, and now comes of his own free will and
accord, properly prepared, humbly soliciting to be admitted to the mysteries
and privileges of Freemasonry.' 'How does he hope to obtain those privileges?'
'By the help of God, being free and of good report.'
The Junior Warden then takes the Candidate's right hand, and says to him,'Enter,
free and of good report,' and he is led to the Senior Warden, before whom
a similar exchange takes place. The Senior Warden moves to the Worshipful
Master. 'Worshipful Master,' he says, making the appropriate sign, 'I present
to you Mr John Smith, a Candidate properly prepared to be made a Mason.'
'Brother Senior Warden,' replies the Worshipful Master, 'your presentation
shall be attended to, for which purpose I shall address a few questions to
the Candidate, which I trust he will answer with candour.' He turns to the
Candidate. 'Do you seriously declare on your honour that, unbiased by the
improper soficitation of friends against your own inclination, and uninfluenced
by mercenary or other unworthy motive, you freely and voluntarily offer yourself
a Candidate for the mysteries and privileges of Freemasonry?'
'I do.'
'Do you likewise pledge yourself that you are prompted to solicit those
privileges by a favourable opinion preconceived of the Institution, a genuine
desire of knowledge, and a sincere wish to render yourself more extensively
serviceable to your fellow creatures?'
'I do.'
'Do you further seriously declare on your honour that, avoiding fear on the
one hand and rashness on the other, you wl ill steadily persevere through
the ceremony of your initiation, and if once admitted you will afterwards
act and abide by the ancient usages and established customs of the order?'
'I do.'
'Brother Senior Warden, you will direct the junior Deacon to instruct the
Candidate to advance to the pedestal in due form.'
'Brother Junior Deacon, it is the Worshipful Master's command that you instruct
the Candidate to advance to the pedestal in due form.'
The Junior Deacon complies, leading the Candidate to the pedestal and instructing
him to stand with his heels together and his feet at right angles, the left
foot facing east and the right foot south. He continues: 'Take a short pace
with your left foot, bringing the heels together in the form of a square.
Take another, a little longer, heel to heel as before. Another still longer,
heels together as before.'
The Candidate is now standing before the pedestal, with the junior Deacon
to his right and the Senior Deacon to his left.
'It is my duty to inform you,' says the 'Worshipful Master, 'that Masonry
is free, and requires a perfect freedom of inclination in every Candidate
for its mysteries. It is founded on the purest principles of piety and virtue.
It possesses great and invaluable privileges. And in order to secure those
privileges to worthy men, and we trust to worthy men alone, vows of fidelity
are required. But let me assure you that in those vows there is nothing
incompatible with your civil, moral or religious duties. Are you therefore
willing to take a Solemn Obligation, founded on the principles I have stated,
to keep inviolate the secrets and mysteries of the order?'
'I am.'
'Then you will kneel on your left knee, your right foot formed in a square,
give me your right hand which I place on the Volume of the Sacred Law, while
your left will be employed in supporting these compasses, one point presented
to your naked left breast.'
This done, the Candidate is then made to repeat the Obligation after the
Worshipful Master, 'I, John Smith, in the presence of the Great Architect
of the Universe, and of this worthy, worshipful, and warranted Lodge of Free
and Accepted Masons, regularly assembled and properly dedicated, of my own
free will and accord, do hereby (WM touches Candidate's right band with his
left band) and hereon (WM touches the Bible with his left band) sincerely
and solemnly promise and swear, that I will always hele, conceal and never
reveal any part or parts, point or points of the secrets or mysteries of
or belonging to Free and Accepted Masons in Masonry, which may heretofore
have been known by me, or shall now or at any future period he communicated
to me, unless it be to a true and lawful Brother or Brothers, and not even
to him or them, until after due trial, strict examination, or sure information
from a well-known Brother, that he or they are worthy of that confidence,
or in the body of a just, perfect, and regular Lodge of Ancient Freemasons.
I further solemnly promise that I will not write those secrets, indite, carve,
mark, engrave or otherwise them delineate, or cause or suffer it to be so
done by others, if in my power to prevent it, on anything movable or immovable,
under the canopy of Heaven, whereby or whereon any letter, character or figure,
or the least trace of a letter, character or figure, may become legible,
or intelligible to myself or anyone in the world, so that our secret arts
and hidden mysteries may improperly become known through my unworthiness.
These several points I solemnly swear to observe, without evasion, equivocation,
or mental reservation of any kind, under no less a penalty, on the violation
of any of them, than that of having my throat cut across, my tongue tom out
by the root, and buried in the sand of the sea at low water mark, or a cable9s
length from the shore, where the tide regularly ebbs and flows twice in
twenty-four hours, or the more effective punishment of being branded as a
wilfully perjured individual, void of all moral worth, and totally unfit
to be received into this worshipful Lodge, or any other warranted Lodge or
society of men, who prize honour and virtue above the external advantages
of rank and fortune. So help me, God, and keep me steadfast in this my Great
and Solemn Obligation of an Entered Apprentice Freemason.

All the preceding texts quoted from: Knight, Stephen, The Brotherhood, The
Secret World Of The Freemasons, 1983-, ISBN 0 586 05983 0 - currently out
of print.

"Masons are reluctant to unleash the full force of law against an offending
brother."

Inside the Brotherhood has its origins in the pioneering work of Stephen
Knight who died [of cancer of the brain] in July 1985 aged thirty-three,
just eighteen months after the publication of his bestselling, controversial
and much-disputed exposé of Freemasonry, The Brotherhood.
Had he lived, Stephen would have written his own sequel. Instead I stepped,
almost literally, into a dead man's shoes. I tracked down many of his sources
and read hundreds of letters sent in response to his book but which he never
pursued because of illness. More than three years after his death, fanmail
still pours in for him from all over the world.

Typically futile was the 1985 resolution by the London Borough of Enfield
that all councillors should declare membership of societies such as the Masons.
Two years later the Enfield Gazette discovered only twenty out of
twenty-eight Labour councillors had filled in the confidential form, just
one admitting he was 'on the square'. Of thirty-eight Tories only fourteen
complied, none of whom was a Mason. Yet the newspaper claimed at least ten
Tory councillors were in the Craft. Labour councillors said they suspected
Enfield was run by Masons but one Tory who publicly admitted he was a member
retorted: 'There is no reason why Masonry should clash with council business.
But I can't tell you anything about it.'

Masons are reluctant to unleash the full force of law against an offending
brother. Their dilemma is clear from a letter which I received from the son
of the late Sir George Evetts, Master of Ewell Lodge (no.1851) some fifty
years ago.In 1932 I persuaded my father to buy me a motor-cycle. He quibbled for
days as to paying £35 instead of £30 which he considered ample,
and kept on lecturing me on 'the value of money'. Eventually he gave in and
I thanked him. The sequel came in 1941 when I was serving as an officer in
the RNVR [Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve].
One Saturday afternoon Father was driving with Mother to Croydon for a very
important Lodge meeting. On the outskirts of the town the bombs began to
fall and she begged him to abandon the trip. He refused and stated the meeting
was very important and he must attend. When I came home
on leave in 1942 Mother told me of this incident and said,
'The blessed Masons are more important than any of us. I will now tell you
that ten years ago, three weeks after father argued about an extra £5
for your motor-bike, the telephone rang. It was the master of the Lodge telling
Father that the Treasurer had left his wife and taken the Lodge's funds of
£1,300 - plus a lady friend! Father offered between £600 and £800
as his share towards making up the loss. I told him he should not give his
hard-earned money to protect a rogue. His reply was to sulk in his study
and say, "You do not understand. As a well-to-do brother, I am honour-bound
to replace so much, so that we do not prosecute."'

From: Lloyd MacKenzie Parker - beauseant@arms-armor.com

As my Masonic Brother Voltaire once said: " I don't agree with a single word
you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it!" I am an American
Freemason, but one whom has visited a number of my English Brethren (some
of whom are relatives).
From reading your various pages, it appears to me that you write as an
intelligent person, and one who has a passionate desire to help others. How
ironic it is then that you have the stance against Freemasonry that you do.
For if you really understood the tenets of Freemasonry, then you would probably
avoid the such tirades against the fraternity. I think this stems from ignorance
on your part. I mean this not as a slight, but as a truth. I consider myself
a fairly intelligent person, but the more I learn proves to me just how ignorant
I myself am. I would only ask that you do some more reading and - Question,
question, question, everything that you read. Don't allow personal biases
to influence your judgement. Gather all the facts- (in this case some-PRO
with the con,) assess these and then come to a decided stance. I have both
of Mr. Knight's books, and other anti-Masonic literature in my library. I
feel obliged to hear what others say, and seek to refute it with fact (whenever
possible). This is quite easy to do with Mr.Knight's works. I recommend to
you 'BORN IN BLOOD' by John Robinson, (an elderly scholar who was not a Mason,
but later became one, only two years before his death). He wrote on the origins
of Freemasonry and their ties to the Knights Templar (another much maligned
group). Mr. Robinson has an entire section in his book where he discusses
"The Brotherhood," et al, and refutes it easily ...fact by fact.
Admittedly American Freemasonry differs from the English, but this is more
in the social aspects than common beliefs and tradition. We American Masons
find it anathema to recruit candidates. One must ask to join our ranks, we
don't pick and choose. This policy is firmly adhered to, and is actually
detrimental in today's society (where few know anything of our fraternity.
Recruitment is relatively commonplace in England, where I have found such
instances as a cousin, who is a constable for Devon-Cornwall Police, being
told that he needed to join if he expected to advance. This would be unheard
of in America. Without lambasting my English Brothers, I will say that, again,
our beliefs and traditions, at least, are still one and the same.
As Masons our basic tenets are set in 'Friendship, Truth and Brotherly Love."
We believe that all people are created by the Deity as equals. Material wealth,
social status, etc. is taught to be unimportant. What counts is a man's heart;
that he live uprightly (in whatever way he chooses) and believes in the Deity.
This applies to women and children as well for in America we have a Masonic
branch for them also (Eastern Star, Job's Daughters, and DeMolay).
When I speak of the Deity, I refer to one omnipotent, benevolent, Supreme
Creator. We Masons are composed of Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists,
etc. All one must do is profess faith in a benevolent, Supreme Being. Thusly;
a tenet of Masonry is tolerance. As long as one strives to live uprightly,
and believes in a benevolent Supreme Being one is to choose his own path.
Discussion of religion or politics is absolutely forbidden in Lodge, as these
can be divisive (as one might push his beliefs or views on others- resulting
in disharmony).
I apologize if I appear to be proselytizing, but I wanted to make this all
clear to you before proceeding into my next rant. Now that I've covered the
ideals of Freemasonry, I will agree that not all is a bed or roses. As
human-beings we are all fallible creatures, no less in Freemasonry. There
are those who use it to gain status, and advantage, but those who do so violate
the very oath taken upon their admission- that they seek enlightenment, and
support the tenets of the fraternity, and swear that they are not joining
for any mercenary reasons.
Up until only a decade or so ago, much of American Masonry, had a sad tradition
of working to exclude people based on skin color and ethnicity. In the Black
community, this resulted in Blacks forming their own branch of Freemasonry
called "Prince Hall Masonry." Many of us, especially we younger Brethren,
have worked to put an end to this anti-Masonic evil within our own fraternity.
I can only speak for California, but as such an ethnically diverse state,
we had (and really still have) only had a sprinkling of Blacks, Jews, Sikhs,
etc. in our overall ranks. We in California, were some of the first to openly
recognize Prince Hall Masons, and now visit one another's Lodges. In doing
this, I and all California Masons, were technically seen as having 'violated
the rules,' by accepting 'clandestine/false Masons' and could have be ostracized
by Lodges in other States and countries. This included England- who actually
issued an edict stating this! Our goal is to now work to make our fraternity
what it is truly meant to be- a place for ALL men.
Enough, thank you for taking the time to hear me out.
Peace- Lloyd MacKenzie Parker

Tony replies..... - tony@gaia.org

Dear Lloyd
Thanks for taking the time to write... Sounds like your objections to racial
discrimination will have an effect. I think it's trully couragoeus to break
with tradition backing principles of basic human respect.
Let me make my objection to masonry clear. It is the very lack of free speech
(which you celebrate above) and culture of secrecy and deception of the lower
degrees by the higher degrees that warns me off. Its a bit like the problem
we have with government... you can be governed by its rules without the
transparency that you need to say you really believe in somthing. In the
case of govt. none of us choose to put ourselves under government yet we're
all subject to its laws. I am an idealist I admit... but I believe the human
race can only live in harmony (without JFK assassinations and Gulf Wars waged
by corporations and banks for oil) if we do it openly and honestly. Masonry
is the very antithesis of openness! Who knows 33rd degree masons well enough
to know how deeply good they are? Do they give you the creeps when you meet
them? All these questions I want answers to AND my Christian faith precludes
me worshipping any other than Jesus Christ and Yahweh the God of the Old
Testament.
I also abhor all forms of priviledge. These top masons might be a fine old
dudes if billions of people weren't starving hungry!
'Nuff said... thanks for your compliments about my intelligence... I am sorry
to tell you my IQ is abnormally low. Probably because I couldn't be bothered
with the stupid test!
Tony Gosling

This is written in typical Masonic prose - it is a forced style of writing
that is almost overbearingly dry - the content, however, may be of interest
(ed.)

Anomalies and Peculiarities

If it is difficult to decide on matters of Ritual it is equally difficult
to understand a good many things which one experiences in Masonry. I have
called them anomalies and peculiarities.
To begin with Freemasonry and Masonry seem synonymous terms, but are they?
There was an Art, or Trade (whatever it may be called) of Building and this
was Masonry, so called because of the product of the labours of those skilled
in the fashioning and putting together pieces of stone. Freemasonry was,
or is, the association of persons for certain character building purposes,
and regarding the individual members of the association as typified by stones
then there may be some synonymity. Freemasonry of to-day has nothing in common
with the Buildings or Builders of to-day except in the use of symbols derived
from the Builder's tools.
Freemasonry is said to be a Secret Society, but go where you will, you see
Masonic Temple, Freemasons' Hall, and even Freemasons' Arms. There are well-known
Freemasons' Institutions for Girls, Boys and Old People, and Freemason's'
Hospital. You see men carrying odd shaped cases r bags, some who wear emblems
on their watch chains, or you go to dinner as a visitor at a Ladies' Night,
or see the members assembled at a Church Service. You know some relative
or friend is a member, and perhaps gaze with wonder at his Apron. How then
is it a secret? it isn't. It is properly a Society having secrets, to obtain
or share in which you must join, or be made a member.
You think you would like to become a member, but no one asks you to do so.
When you approach a friend you know is a Mason you don't seem to get on with
it. He tells you about fees, subscriptions and so on, but not what it is
or does - or why it is, or does it. Perhaps you are told you are free to
do as you like, and you think that is why it is called Free. You are not
quite wrong, but you ultimately go into it without any real idea of the nature
of its ceremonies, unless some would-be wit tells you a great deal you find
is wrong.
You join of your own free inclination, but before long you find yourself
bound to certain principles, and have given up you freedom of selfishness
for a bounden duty to serve your fellows. Freedom is not unrestrained license.
Freemasonry is said to be ancient, and derived from Time Immemorial, but
no one can tell you when or where it really began, but for that very reason
it is from Time Immemorial.
You come across some strange words which you may not have heard of before.
HELE, surely it isn't English? No, not of to-day, but it is an Anglo-Saxon
survival and is used in Cornwall, Sussex, and elsewhere and means to cover
up or conceal. For instance, in Sussex a house with a new roof is said to
be newly heled. The hard sound which is sometimes given is not AngloSaxon
but German, i.e., hehlan, having much the same meaning. MOTE is an Anglo-Saxon
word, from Motan, to be allowed, and the tense shows it to mean "So may it
be."
MARK. This perhaps in two senses, one to make a mark, or sign on something,
and the other to observe, or watch. Hence, to mark the Sun, etc., means to
observe its position as indicating time. It may be thought that the position
of certain officers whose backs would apparently (and perhaps actually) be
toward the Luminary whose progress they were to mark, was an anomaly. So
it would be, if visual observation of the orb was desired, but it is now
figurative, and it may also be pointed out that the altitude could be ascertained
by means of the shadow of a pole, or gnomon (used in early days for that
purpose) necessitating the observer's back to the source of light, although
it is true that in earlier (but comparatively recent times) the position
of these officers was not the same as now.
HIGH TIME, OR HIGH TWELVE indicates noon, the period of the Sun crossing
the meridian. Low twelve means midnight, a time of gloom, and has been adopted
by certain American Masons to name a kind of Benevolent Association or Club,
for the instant relief of a Brother or his family.
ON THE SQUARE really implies membership of the Fraternity. The terms Fraternity,
Order, Craft, Institution, Society, Association, are variously applied to
the organisation of which you are a member. The best title is Fraternity
which means a Brotherhood for all Freemasons are regarded as Brothers. Moreover,
it is the official title as on your Certificate.
GOOD STANDING. This means you have paid up all your dues and fees and performed
your duties in that respect.
UNATTACHED - not a member of a Lodge - one who has resigned, and no longer
subscribes to a Lodge. No Mason should remain in this position longer then
can be helped. He loses privileges and advantages as well as the right of
visiting Lodges often being limited to not more than one visit to the same
Lodge.
CLOTHING. It is a matter of necessity for a Brother attending a lodge to
wear the appropriate masonic clothing. This means in general an Apron (omitting
matters of mundane dress) and this should be that appropriate to the degree
of the wearer. It sometimes happens that by adverse circumstances the wearer's
own is not available, and if one cannot be borrowed, then perchance a M.M.
(or even greater personage) may have to wear one of a lesser degree, which
causes anxiety to officers at certain times. It should be remembered that
there are other styles of Apron than those used in the English Craft, and
an acquaintance with them should be made.
BY-LAWS. The nature of these is generally known, but you may be surprised
at hearing them read- not as a whole, but the first and last - or the marginal
titles of them. This is wrong, they should be read in their entirety.
ANCIENT CHARGE. This is a term wrongly applied to a certain part of the Ceremony.
Ancient Charges appear in the Book of Constitutions with the direction that
they are to be read at the making of a new Brother or when the Master may
direct. Now this is a direct and plain instruction to read a definite set
of officially prescribed injunctions and admonitions or explanations. If
they were ritual then we are not only directed or ordered to read them, but
they would be an official part of the ritual. But in the majority of Lodges
this is not done, and I may say that I have never heard it done anywhere,
although this statement is a confession of my own default. Still, the Ancient
Charges if read would be a very interesting experience for all its hearers
and ought to become the invariable custom.
CLOSING THE L. gives rise to an anomaly in some of them, as where one is
informed that it "is closed ....." and the "meeting adjourned," etc. This
cannot be the case for those same Ancient Charges state that the L. is an
assembly of Brethren met to do certain things, and there is official authority
for the statement that when the L. is closed the meeting has ended so that
you cannot adjourn a meeting which has ceased to exist.
MAY GOD PRESERVE THE CRAFT is a pious aspiration of every member whether
it is expressed verbally, or only voicelessly appreciated. Its use is superfluous
as a moment's consideration of an almost immediately antecedent part of the
Ceremony would indicate. If the true ritualistic idea of collective participation
in the Ceremony is entertained, a more expressive form has been used. Some
points more nearly allied to ritual may be mentioned. The expression "enable
you to become" (S. and L.) is not particularly happy, for no one who was
not, could possibly be contemplated as eligible "enable you to be" (E. and
O.) is better "to remain" (W.) is best. Then in reference to recommending
anyone - we get "your choice" and for the choice is that of the person
recommending, and only the ultimate acceptance of that recommendation is
"our" business. Then a variation is found of those "in" and "from" the N.,
E., S. and W., which suggests two thing, "in" that those being addressed
are actually situate at the cardinal points which they all cannot be, or
"from" that they have assembled from every point of the compass, which seems
more possible and suggestive of mediaeval times. A peculiarity which caused
me some hesitation when I first participated in that part of the Ceremony
is the statement "constantly revolving around it on its axis" (W., O., L.),
and it is not improved by "constantly revolving round it on its own axis"
(S.) revolving on its axis in its orbit (E.) is nearest to being correct,
it does revolve on its axis, the latter produces night and day, and also
the phenomenon referred to at this point.
BENEVOLENCE AND CHARITY. These are not integral parts of the Masonic structure,
strange as this statement may appear. They are distinctly stated to be "truly
Masonic Ornaments," and rightly so for character which does not adorn itself
by the practice of virtue is unworthy of itself or the Fraternity.
There are many other things I should have like to mention, but they must
remain untouched, and so be subjects for consideration and investigation
by those who are attracted by or notice them.
---------------------------------------------------
Curiouser and curiouser said Alice.

Russ Wise

Freemasonry : Its Background and History

http://www.probe.org/docs/masonry.html
There are probably few subjects as shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding
as that of Freemasonry. Known under a variety of names (the Craft, the
Brotherhood, the Order, the Fraternal Order, the Lodge, etc.), Masonry has
been aligned with both the Christian church and the occult. A major problem
for many whether within the Order or without is the question of the Mason's
ultimate allegiance. If, in fact, there is no appreciable theological difference
between the church and Freemasonry, their antagonists have no basis on which
to denounce them. However, if there are beliefs and practices in Masonry
that are incompatible with biblical Christianity, then it becomes imperative
for the non-Mason and Mason alike to understand the true teachings of the
Lodge.
The history of the Lodge is not easily discernable. Along with those who
believe that Freemasonry had Christian beginnings are a growing number of
Masonic authors who espouse an occultic origin for the Craft. There are those
who indicate that the Craft was an outgrowth of the Ancient Mystery Schools
or that it was first associated with the Druids or the Illuminati. In order
for the individual to make a correct decision regarding Freemasonry, he must
first understand the motivation of the author.
Masonic authors Delmar Darrah, A. S. MacBride, and Melvin Johnson point out
the unreliability of many of their fellow Masonic writers. Darrah, in his
book titled History And Evolution Of Freemasonry, states that "Masons have
believed the things concerning the origin of the institution that they wanted
to believe and have gone forth and told them as facts. When links were missing,
they have been supplied by drawing upon fertile imaginations."(1)

Christianity and the Craft

Leading Masonic authorities in the 18th and 19th centuries held a distinctively
Christian interpretation of Freemasonry. Such leaders as Rev. James Anderson,
William J. Hughan, William Hutchinson, Rev. George Oliver, and others had
a Christian view of their Craft.(2) Hutchinson, in particular, noted that
Jesus Christ was the example for the Master Mason. He stated, "The Master
Mason represents a man under the Christian doctrine saved from the grave
of iniquity and raised to the faith of salvation. As the great testimonial
that we are risen from the state of corruption, we bear the emblem of the
Holy Trinity as the insignia of our vows and of the origin of the Master's
order."(3)

The Anti-Masonic Movement

The decade between 1826 and 1836 represented troublesome years for the Masonic
Order. After several incidents that cast a negative light on Freemasonry,(4)
a growing anti-Masonic sentiment began to emerge. As a result, there was
a mass exodus of Christians from the Lodge, thereby creating a vacuum to
be filled by those who held a non-Christian view of Masonry. During this
time Albert Pike seized the opportunity to spread and entrench his pagan
interpretation of the Craft. Pike and others began to reinterpret the symbols
of the Craft.
The paganization of the Lodge took place over several decades, but it did
not reach public awareness until the latter part of the 19th century. Even
so, it was not until the 1920s, when a large number of books began appearing
in print that claimed pagan origins for the Craft, that these efforts became
widely known.

Masonic Universalism

The anti-Masonic movement dealt Freemasonry a severe blow. However, the exodus
of large numbers of Christians proved to be a stabilizing factor(5) for the
non-Christian forces of the Craft. Once the Christian majority had left the
Craft, Pike was then able to redesign it in a way that would support his
pagan views.
It is interesting to note that during the very time that Pike was heavily
involved in his paganizing process, the Craft was experiencing a renewed
growth in membership from Christians. The majority of these new Christian
members represented church leadership and accepted the Christian interpretation
of Hutchinson, Oliver, Hughan, and others. Their influence, however, wasn't
enough to offset the growing paganization of the Lodge.
Manly P. Hall, a 33rd degree Mason, was one of the early authors who claimed
a pagan origin for Freemasonry. In his book entitled The Lost Keys of
Freemasonry, he says that Freemasonry is not a material thing: it is a universal
expression of the Divine Wisdom. "The Masonic order is not a mere social
organization, but is composed of all those who have banded themselves together
to learn and apply the principles of mysticism and the occult rites."(6)
Hall (and a host of other writers including Pike) created a pagan history
for Freemasonry that would later take root and grow to become the accepted
understanding of Masonic origins. As this new interpretation took hold in
the minds of the membership, Christianity was being all but eradicated from
the Craft. It became unthinkable to mention the name of Christ or to pray
in the name of Jesus. The Craft was set firmly on the ground of "universalism."
The primary standard for membership was, and continues to be, that the candidate
believe in "God." This god could be Krishna, Buddha, Allah, or any other
god, but Jesus Christ is not to be considered anything more than their equal.
This universalist, or inclusive, idea about God has opened the door for every
false deity to have a place within the Lodge. Hall makes his universalist
orientation unmistakable by stating, "The true disciple of Masonry has given
up forever the worship of personalities. With his greater insight, he realizes
that all forms . . . are of no importance to him compared to the life which
is evolving within."(7)
Hall adds to his belief in universalism by stating that "the true Mason is
not creed-bound. He realizes with the divine illumination of his lodge that
as a Mason his religion must be universal: Christ, Buddha, or Mohammed, the
name means little, for he recognizes only the light and not the bearer."(8)
So, for the Mason, God is not a personal being, but an impersonal force,
an energy that has no substance.
The Mason who is a Christian is put in a very difficult position. Although
his Fraternal Order supported his Christianity in its early years, it now
no longer allows for it as there is no question about the pagan orientation
of Freemasonry in our day. Therefore, the Mason must ask himself whether
he can, in good faith, remain a part of an organization that devalues the
God of Christianity.

Freemasonry as a Religion

As the evolution of modern Freemasonry took place over a period of several
hundred years, it continued to be influenced by those who held an occultic
worldview. For them, the Craft was a revival of the ancient mysteries.
Albert Pike, the noted Masonic scholar, said that "it is the universal, eternal,
immutable religion, such as God planted it in the heart of universal
humanity."(9) Pike's statement is a good example of Masonic double speak.
The Christian can interpret what is said as being in reference to the personal
God of Christianity who created the universe. However, when one takes Pike's
statement together with the balance of his worldview it becomes apparent
that he is referring to the impersonal god of Freemasonry as mentioned earlier.
Pike, in his book Morals and Dogma, says this about religion and Freemasonry:
"Every Masonic Lodge is a temple of religion; and its teachings are instruction
in religion."(10) According to the modern day interpreters of Masonry, it
has now taken its logical place as the unifier of all religions. One such
interpreter, Foster Bailey, an occultist and a 32nd degree Mason, said that
"Masonry is the descendant of a divinely imparted religion" that antedates
the prime date of creation. Bailey goes on to say that "Masonry is all that
remains to us of the first world religion" which flourished in ancient times.
"It was the first unified world religion. Today we are working again towards
a world universal religion."(11)
In other words, Freemasonry has its roots in the same sources as the mystery
religions of the world that brought on the wrath of the Hebrew God of the
Old Testament. And the Craft is now preparing the way for the revival of
the same religion of the ancients.
The Mason, however, may be unaware of much of what is taught by the Lodge.
The Mason who is uninitiated in the higher degrees is deliberately deceived
by his brethren. Pike says that "truth is not for those who are unworthy."
He goes on to say that "Masonry jealously conceals its secrets, and intentionally
leads conceited interpreters astray."(12)
Hall put it this way: "Spiritual qualities are necessary before the real
Masonic secrets can be understood by the brethren themselves."(13) What Hall
seems to be saying is that one must reach a certain spiritual level before
he can rightly understand the deep symbolic teachings of Freemasonry. As
an example, one of the most known symbols for Masonry is the letter "G."
Depending on whose interpretation one chooses, this symbol may represent
geometry, God, or gnosis. A Christian would obviously interpret the symbol
as God, whereas the pagan would see it as knowledge or gnosis.
Albert Pike was even more direct when he stated, "The Blue Degrees are but
the outer court of the Temple. Part of the symbols are displayed there to
the initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It
is not intended that he shall understand them; but it is intended that he
shall imagine he understands them. Their true explication is reserved for
the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry."(14)
The Mason may unwittingly be a part of the Lodge thinking that it is an extension
of his Christian faith, when in fact it may be a "Trojan horse," allowing
another god into his soul.

The Masonic God

The god of Freemasonry and the God of the Bible are not one and the same.
There is a great difference between the two concepts of God. The Masonic
god, "The Great Architect of the Universe" (G.A.O.T.U), is believed to be
above all other gods.
According to Albert Pike, all people, regardless of their spiritual orientation,
can unite under the "Grand Artificer of the Universe." The Masonic god is
all-inclusive and all-embracing. All potential Masons must acknowledge a
"God" in order to gain membership in the Lodge, but there is no definite
criteria regarding which "God" is implied or what "God" is acceptable.
Pike states that Masonry is the unifier of all religions and that "the Christian,
the Hebrew, the Moslem, the Brahmin, the followers of Confucius and Zoroaster,
can assemble as brethren and unite in prayer to the one God who is above
all the Baalim."(15) In other words, the biblical God is reduced to the level
of all the other gods and at the same time rendered as equal with the false
gods of those religions. Therefore, Christianity is stripped of its uniqueness
as the one true religion that offers humanity its only hope for salvation.
This universal god of Freemasonry is believed by many within the Lodge to
be the God of the Bible, but this god is not the triune God of the Christian
faith. Freemasonry purposefully diminishes the co-equal and co-eternal status
of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. That is, the second and third Persons
of the Trinity are placed below God the Father, disallowing the triune nature
of the biblical God.
The Masonic god is clearly given a greater position among all other "gods."
Albert Pike spoke of "God as being One; Unapproachable, Single, Eternal and
Unchanging. . . . There is but one God, infinite and incomprehensible, to
whom no human attribute can be properly assigned, even when imagined to be
infinite."(16) Therefore, according to Pike, the god of Freemasonry is "Single"
in nature and not the triune God of the Bible. Likewise, the Masonic god
is unapproachable. He is not a personality that cares for his creation, he
is a force a principle.
Manly P. Hall, a 33rd degree Mason, refers to God as being the "Life Principle"
that lies within all living things. In a passage quoted earlier, Hall stated,
"The true disciple of ancient Masonry has given up forever the worship of
personalities. With his greater insight, he realizes that all forms . . .
are of no importance to him compared to the life which is evolving within."(17)
Hall reveals in this passage that
The god of Freemasonry is a force resident within all living things, and
The religion of the Craft is pantheism.
On the other hand, the God of Christianity is transcendent and only becomes
resident within the human family, and then only when He is invited to do
so. In Masonry, Jesus Christ is not accepted as being "One" with the Father
and is not looked to for salvation.
Jesus made his Father's requirements very clear: "It is written, You shall
worship the Lord your God and serve Him only'" (Luke 4:8). The Father says
that "you shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him .
. . you shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround
you, for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise
the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe
you off the face of the earth" (Deut. 6:13-15).
The Mason who professes to be a Christian must decide whom he will serve:
the God of the Bible or the god of Freemasonry. He cannot serve them both.

The Masonic Jesus

The central question that every Christian Mason must ask himself is "Who
is Jesus Christ according to the Lodge?" Earlier we saw that Albert Pike
was greatly influenced by the occult and that he was responsible for the
rewriting of the rituals for all the degree work beyond that of Master Mason.
Because of Pike's influence, Freemasonry has adopted a universalist approach
toward divinity. According to Jim Shaw, a 33rd degree Mason who left the
Lodge, Masonry teaches that "Jesus was just a man. He was one of the exemplars,'
one of the great men of the past, but not divine and certainly not the only
means of redemption of lost mankind. He was on a level with other great men
of the past like Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras and Mohammed. His life and
legend were no different from that of Krishna, the Hindu god. He is the son
of Joseph,' not the Son of God."(18)
Jesus Christ is not to be looked upon as God incarnate, or as the Savior
of humanity, but He is to be considered as no different than any other great
spiritual leader or guru. To follow through with this conclusion, the Lodge
does not permit the name of Jesus or Christ to be used in any of its prayers
or rituals.
As an example, when Scripture is used in rituals the name of Jesus or Christ
is omitted lest it offend someone. In essence, the Lodge has rewritten Scripture
to suit its own end. The Bible is clear in its warning that God's Word is
not to be changed or tampered with. Deuteronomy 4:2 says, "You shall not
add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it."
Masonic prayers are not to include the name of Jesus Christ, but they are
to refer to the Great Architect of the Universe. The Maryland Master Mason
magazine offered this statement concerning prayer in the Lodge: "All prayers
in Mason lodges should be directed to the one deity to whom all Masons refer
to as the Grand Architect of the Universe."(19)
For the Christian, this idea should cause some real concern. The Bible is
clear regarding what Jesus says to those who are ashamed of the Son. "Everyone
therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before
My Father who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will
also deny him before My Father who is in heaven."(20)
The biblical Jesus does not allow for the bias of Freemasonry when it comes
to receiving His proper place of reverence and worship. In short, Jesus does
not seem to be as tolerant as the Mason when it comes to His divine authority.
The Bible gives us further instruction regarding our response to the Christian
faith. "And Jesus came up to them, saying, All authority has been given me
in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you'" (Matt. 28: 18-20).
The Mason is thus faced with the choice of whom he will serve: Jesus, the
Savior of his soul, or the tolerant god of Freemasonry who leads him to
destruction.

Masonic Light and Darkness

"Freemasons are emphatically called the Sons of Light, because they are in
possession of the true meaning of the symbol; while the profane or uninitiated
who have not received this knowledge are said to be in darkness."(21) In
other words, the Mason has been delivered from the darkness into the light
and is elevated above those who have not received the initiation into the
degrees and mysteries of Freemasonry.
The "profane" individual, or the non-Mason, remains in darkness and is in
need of light. The Mason, after being enlightened, continues to be in need
of more light. It seems that the Mason never comes to fully understand his
Craft and all that it means. However, as the Mason gains more light and
understanding of the various symbols representing each degree, he becomes
more aware of its different meanings. Albert Pike, the Masonic scholar, speaks
of this deception, "Masonry conceals its secrets from all except Adepts and
Sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of
its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be misled; to conceal the
Truth, which it calls Light, from them, and to draw them away from it. Truth
is not for those who are unworthy or unable to receive it, or would pervert
it. So Masonry jealously conceals its secrets, and intentionally leads conceited
interpreters astray."(22)
According to Pike, "Masonry is a search after light."(23) The question that
one must ask oneself is, What is the source of this "Light" that contemporary
Freemasonry is based on? Pike goes on to tell us that the light of Masonry
is based on the Kabalah, or Jewish mysticism. For the Christian this is indeed
a difficulty, because the Christian cannot accept the occult beliefs of the
mystics. The Bible tells us that "truth" or "light" can only be found in
God's Word.
The Mason is taught that as he receives more light he grows in perfection.
As he grows in perfection, he believes that he actually increases his personal
worthiness and, in the process, gains a deeper appreciation of Masonry. This
in-depth understanding leads to a greater degree of enlightenment and enables
the Mason to feel as if he has done all he must do for acceptance into the
Grand Lodge above. This appeal to human pride is a deadly trap because we
all have a sin nature and want to feel that we have "earned" salvation and
"deserve" it.
However, the Mason who professes Jesus Christ as his Lord is left in a very
difficult position by the Lodge. The Lodge considers the Christian as being
profane or unworthy to receive the "Light" of the Craft. The Mason is faced
with this dilemma: if the Lodge has the Light that mankind is looking for
and if Jesus is that Light, how is it then that Jesus is not to be mentioned
in the Lodge if He is indeed the Light of the world?(24) This idea becomes
increasingly difficult when the Christian attempts to reconcile what the
Bible says regarding Jesus and what the Craft says about the presence of
Jesus in the Lodge.
Albert Pike speaks of Lucifer as the Light-bearer! "Lucifer, the Son of the
Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable
blinds feeble, sensual, or selfish Souls?"(25) The Bible identifies Lucifer
as being Satan and an angel of light. According to Paganism, Lucifer is the
bearer of the light that enlightens man's understanding of his Higher Self
or his "God Self." Masonic author Foster Bailey says it this way, "Masonry
therefore, is not only a system of morality, inculcating the highest ethics
through which result, if followed, the conscious unfolding of divinity. .
. . It portrays the recovery of man's hidden divinity and its bringing forth
into the light . . . the power to achieve perfection latent in every man."
Masonry purports to be the Light that awakens man's mind to his perfection
and ultimate divinity.
The question that begs to be answered by each Mason is simply this: "Which
Light' will he follow, the true Light of Christ or the dimly lit light of
the Lodge?"

The Hidden Things of Freemasonry

There is a great deal of secrecy in Freemasonry. From the very beginning
the Entered Apprentice is kept in the shadows regarding the full meaning
of the symbols of the Craft. He is not offered any further understanding
until he has proven himself worthy to receive deeper truths.
Not only is the Mason to keep the secrets of the Lodge, but he is to swear
oaths accompanied by severe penalties if he ever chooses to reveal them.
According to Carl H. Claudy, a former Grand Master of Masons, the Masonic
penalties are intended to inspire terror in the candidate. Claudy says that
if a candidate breaks his oath, he will experience the abasement that any
man would feel when he had broken a solemn pledge. But even more so, he would
experience "the wrath of God blasphemed. The horror of a sin of which there
is none greater."(26)
The above statement is an example of the misinformation that the Mason often
labors under. The idea that God recognizes and upholds the Mason's oath to
a pagan god is simply not biblical. However, the biblical mandate for the
believer is to "swear not at all . . . But let your Yes' be Yes,' and your
No, 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one."(27) In other
words, the Lord makes it very clear that anything sworn other than yes' or
no' is from the mouth of the Devil.
The Christian God is not a god of fear and misery, but He is a God of compassion
and mercy. Masonic author and 33rd Degree Mason Manly P. Hall identifies
the nature of the cosmic force to which the Mason owes his allegiance. He
states that "the average Mason, as well as the modern student of Masonic
ideals, little realizes the cosmic obligation he takes upon himself when
he begins his search for the sacred truths of Nature. . . . Every Mason knows
that a broken vow brings with it a terrible penalty. . . . When a Mason swears
that he will devote his life to (Masonry) . . . and then defiles his living
temple . . . he is breaking a vow which imposes not hours but ages of
misery."(28) The Mason is not offering his loyalty to the God of Christianity,
but to the pantheistic god of Nature.
Albert Mackey, author of the Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, offers several
reasons why non- Masons object to Masonic secrecy. However, there are only
four which he accepts as being true. First, it is an oath. Second, it is
administered before the secrets are communicated. Third, it is accompanied
by certain superstitious ceremonies. And fourth, it is attended by a penalty.(29)
The candidate is led to believe that the penalties accompanying the oaths
that he swears to are indeed carried out. At no time is he told that these
penalties are simply symbolic. Mackey states that the penalties are not to
be inflicted by the Lodge but by God. He says that "the ritualistic penalties
of Freemasonry . . . are in the hands not of man, but of God, and are to
be inflicted by God, and not by man."(30) The Lodge is standing on thin ice
when it presumes that God will safeguard its paganism by putting its detractors
to death.
The greatest problem for the Christian Mason is that by taking the oaths
of the Craft, and living his life according to them, he has opened the door
to Lucifer to steal his relationship with the living God.

Symbolism and Freemasonry

"In all time, truth has been hidden under symbols, and often under a succession
of allegories: where veil after veil had to be penetrated before the true
Light was reached, and the essential truth stood revealed."(31) These words
of Albert Pike, the noted Masonic scholar, sound noble and true. However,
the Christian must weigh Pike's lofty words with the Scripture.
Our Lord was, at all times, eager to help his disciples recognize the truth
of His teachings. The only problem they had to overcome was their lack of
spiritual understanding. The gospel writer of Matthew 7 tells us that all
we must do, is simply ask. "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you
will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives,
and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what
man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your
Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"(32) The Lord
desires to draw us near to Himself. We do not have to pass through veil after
veil to reach divine understanding. He has readily given it to us in His
Word. According to Dr. Robert A. Morey's research, "there were no degrees
in Masonry two hundred years ago; and that the Master's degree is no more
than 150 years of age." He goes on to say that "most Masonic historians now
admit that it was the Frenchmen Desaguilliers or Dr. Anderson who invented
the first three degrees. The few symbols introduced by these two Christian
clergymen came from the Bible and were Christian' in every sense."(33) Here
again we see that the origins of the Craft were rooted in Christian belief.
However, as we have seen earlier, the Craft has undergone a paganization
process by those who would subvert it to their own use. Whereas, in the early
years of the Lodge, the symbols that were introduced revealed truth, in the
present, those very same symbols and hundreds of others are used to mislead
the candidate. Albert Pike made it clear when he stated, "part of the symbols
are displayed . . . to the initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false
interpretations."(34)
Jesus taught in parables and made use of symbols in His instruction. He freely
offered understanding, and He was quick to help others recognize His Father.
But when we look at Freemasonry we find secrecy and the "truth" concealed.
A person must prove himself worthy in order for the "Light" to be shared
with him. And when it is made known to the initiate, this "truth" is often
hidden further in false interpretations.
Masonry has numerous symbols. For the Christian, Masonry utilizes the Bible
as one of its symbols as it uses the Koran, the Vedas, the Gita, or any other
"holy" book. When the Christian candidate sees the Bible on the Masonic altar
and hears the Bible referenced to in the rituals, he assumes that Freemasonry
is indeed Christian as he has, most likely, been told. However, the Bible
is seen only as a symbol by the Lodge, as are all the other "holy" books
of other religions.
This attitude toward the Bible makes it clear that, for Masonry, the Bible
is not seen as being inspired by God, useable for reproof, correction, or
training in righteousness. Rather, it "is only a symbol of Divine Will, Law,
or Revelation."(35)

Salvation in the Lodge

"This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the
chief cornerstone.' Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no
other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."(36)
The early Masons followed a biblical understanding of salvation and what
it meant to be a Christian. However, the pagan writers who rewrote the Masonic
rituals omitted the references to biblical salvation and wrote them in a
way that would not offend anyone of another religion.
The early rituals for the Master Mason Degree were Christian in their overall
meaning. According to Dr. Morey, biblical phrases such as "regeneration,"
"redemption," and "heaven" were used without question.(37)
The greatest issue for the Mason, at present, is whether he will accept the
life and work of Jesus Christ for his redemption or whether he will look
to himself for personal salvation. Manly P. Hall says that "a Mason is evolved
through ages of self- purification and spiritual transmutation."(38) So,
the modern Mason, who follows the Fraternity's writings, looks to himself
for purification and acceptance before a righteous God. Hall says elsewhere
that the Master Mason's "spiritual light is greater because he has evolved
a higher vehicle for its expression."(39)
Foster Bailey, the author of The Spirit of Masonry, says that "Masonry is
one of many ways to God" and that Masonry "is not only a system of morality,
inculcating the highest ethics through which result, if followed, the conscious
unfolding of divinity, but it is also a dramatic presentation of
regeneration."(40)
In other words, Bailey is saying that Masonry is a vehicle for mankind to
discover his divinity and achieve personal regeneration. This idea is totally
foreign to the Bible. The Christian cannot, in any way, get beyond the fact
that Jesus Christ as the Light giver and redeemer of humanity is opposed
to the teachings of the Lodge.
The Bible distinctly teaches that salvation only comes through the person
of Jesus Christ. It cannot come by any other means. The Scripture is clear
that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart
that God raised Him from the dead, we will receive salvation. It is not based
upon our works or deeds; it is solely based upon what Jesus did on the cross.
Masonry does not accept the fact that man is born sinful and is in need of
redemption. The Craft does not have a grasp of the depth of man's rebellion
against his Creator. Masonic author H. L. Haywood in his book, The Great
Teachings of Masonry, states that "many think that man was once a perfect
being but that through some unimaginable moral catastrophe he became corrupt
unto the last moral fiber of his being, so that, without some kind of
supernatural or miraculous help from outside him, he can never be saved."(41)
Because Masonry does not have an understanding of the serious nature of man's
separation from God, it cannot offer a suitable solution to his problem.
The Bible tells us that man is in a state of separation from God and that
he is in need of a savior. The Gospel writer of Mark speaks of the fallen
nature of humanity. The Scripture says that it is what comes out of man that
defiles him. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil
thoughts, adulteries, thefts, murders, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
sensuality, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from
within and defile a man."(42) Freemasonry cannot offer mankind an adequate
solution to his problem of sin.

A Christian Response to Freemasonry

I recall the words of my father when I first spoke to him about his involvement
in Freemasonry. He told me that the Lodge taught that "once a Mason, always
a Mason." Even as a senior citizen, that idea continued to have a definite
hold on his thinking. My father, as a Christian, had not been able to see
the vast difference between the teaching of the Church and that of the Lodge.
Once I was able to share the teaching of the Lodge with him, he was then
able to make a clear decision regarding his future with the Fraternity. But,
even after he had left the Lodge, he was unable to mentally sever the tie
that bound him to the Lodge; he still felt the tug: "Once a Mason, always
a Mason."
The Mason falls within one of four categories regarding his continued
relationship with the Lodge.(43) First, there are some who do not have a
clear knowledge of Christianity. They believe that religion and Christianity
are the same and that if someone uses the Scriptures, that person must be
a Christian. Such people are sincere but untaught. Because they do not know
what Christianity teaches, they see nothing wrong with Freemasonry.
A second category would be those who do not know what Masonry is and what
it teaches. They are not only uninformed about Christianity but are equally
uninformed about the teachings of Freemasonry. These individuals are without
any theological foundation on which to discern truth from error. Likewise,
they are often ignorant of the occult direction the Lodge has taken over
the past few decades.
A third group is made up of individuals who profess Christ, yet continue
as Masons regardless of how much they know about Christianity and Freemasonry.
They are indeed in a state of rebellion and have chosen not to follow the
truth of Christ.
The final group are those who profess Christ and yet have abandoned the Christian
faith. Those who have embraced this position are essentially Unitarian in
their belief. They no longer hold to the absolute deity of Christ or His
blood atonement.
For the most part, all Masons fall into one of these categories. In some
cases, it may be that the blame is not to be laid on the individual but on
the Christian church for not adequately teaching its truths. The Mason has
a choice to make, but the church has a responsibility to equip its people
with the truths of the faith.

Jesus made it quite clear in the Scripture. He said, "Abide in Me, and I
in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the
vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are
the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for
apart from Me you can do nothing."(44) It is difficult for the Mason to abide
in Christ as long as he remains in the Lodge and follows its teachings. It
is impossible to bear fruit apart from Jesus. He alone is the one who brings
the fruit forth.
It is imperative for the Christian to deal with the question of obedience.
It is impossible to serve two masters without loving one and despising the
other. The root problem is often the fact that the individual has not been
spiritually reborn. Once again Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless
one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God . . . unless one is born
of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God . . . you must
be born again."(45)